The Demon Moon
by Wyl
Summary: KotOR2 - First trip to Dxun. A mixture of new and familiar story themes, with a developing male Exile x Brianna relationship set within the context of the mission.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is a KotOR2 story I thought up years ago but never bothered actually writing. Having recently started playing the game again with the TSLRCM mod inspired me to finally get around to writing it out. It basically covers the first trip to Dxun, with an Exile x Brianna developing relationship intermingled (nothing too overbearing, hopefully). I mixed in some of the dialogue from the game here and there, though I tried not to use too much of it since I'm not any different than most people in not wanting to read yet another copy/paste of the game script :-) So even when I do use game dialogue, I often alter where/when exactly something was said and who said it. So the story should retain some familiarity while at the same time having something a bit different to offer. The story is already written, and I'm just working through revising/editing/correcting the chapters at this point. I'll probably have the whole thing posted over the course of the next week.**

* * *

Handmaiden was a bundle of nervous energy. She paced the halls of the _Ebon Hawk_, finally having given up on the notion of getting back to sleep after staring at the ceiling of the cargo hold for far too long. Part of her was a little stir crazy from being cooped up on the ship. It had been a long hyperspace journey from Dantooine to Dxun, where the ship had been forced to land the previous afternoon after being caught up in a space battle above nearby Onderon. But she knew that wasn't the primary reason. The bigger cause was the life altering decision she'd made the previous night after sparring with Fret Starscream, the Jedi Exile, for the third time on their journey.

Reflecting on the past several weeks, Handmaiden knew she'd opened up to him far more than she had ever expected to when she first stowed away aboard the _Ebon Hawk_ on Telos at the directive of her mistress, Jedi Master Atris. Certainly more than she'd ever intended anyway. Back then she couldn't have imagined telling him deeply personal stories about her father, mother, and her life growing up in the hidden Telos Academy, where she was ostracized by her five sisters because she was the only one of the six with a different mother. But during the time she'd traveled with the Exile, from Telos to Nar Shadaa to Dantooine and now Dxun, her preconceptions of him had steadily come under attack. Atris had told her the Exile was a monster consumed by the dark side, incapable of feeling compassion and caring only for himself – that '_the galaxy could burn for all he cares' _as she put it. Atris taught her and her sisters that the Exile had lost himself to the dark side in the Mandalorian Wars, a war he joined solely out of love of battle, pursuit of revenge, and to spite the Jedi Council that had forbidden the Jedi from entering. However, all Handmaiden had seen was a man with exceptional patience and compassion, one who went out of his way to help others even when it put himself at risk, and often even when she felt they didn't deserve it. She didn't always agree with his decisions, especially not the one where he spared the Sith assassin Visas Marr and then agreed to allow her to join the crew on their mission, but she recognized that it was a pattern of behavior for him – putting others ahead of himself.

As far as she could tell, the limit to any behavior that could be construed as dark sided was in dealing with people and organizations that would hurt innocents. And she personally didn't have a problem with him doing things such as Force persuading a couple of Exchange thugs shaking down a defenseless man to go jump into the central pit on Nar Shadaa, or Force persuading a hostile merc on Dantooine that fought on the side of the Sith in the Jedi Civil War to give the Exile his weapon and all of his credits. Even though he was quick to point out that he was _not_ a Jedi, that the Order had cast him aside, the Exile was seemingly a model Jedi to her, the opposite of everything that Atris had taught the handmaidens.

Realizing this had been quite disconcerting at first for Handmaiden. She'd trusted Atris more than anyone else in the galaxy. Atris had been equal parts mother and mentor to her since she was very young, having taken in her and her sisters after the death of their father, Yusanis, at the hand of Revan. But as the weeks and months on her current mission passed, Handmaiden increasingly accepted the Exile for who he actually was, not who she'd been taught he was. She had come to feel like she and the Exile were kindred spirits, both outcasts of sorts. And as much as she had accepted him, he had even more quickly accepted her and made her feel not just needed, but _wanted._

It all culminated the previous night, when she betrayed her oath to Atris by asking the Exile to train her in the ways of the Jedi and he had agreed. Fret pointed out that since he officially wasn't a Jedi, technically all he could do was train her in the ways of the _Force_. But Handmaiden knew him well enough though to know the difference was little more than semantics. He may no longer have had the right to bear the title, but she saw him as everything a Jedi should be. While Handmaiden didn't make the decision lightly and felt at peace with it, beginning her new life as a Force user both frightened and exhilarated her at the same time. She also couldn't help feel slight trepidation over how Atris would react when she found out. Her mistress had a hot and cold personality, and on a given day she could be just as likely to be compassionate as harsh. No, when Handmaiden was being honest with herself, she knew Atris would never accept this. Handmaiden had not only broken her oath to her mistress, she had done so for the one man Atris loathed more than anyone else in the galaxy.

-==0==-

Handmaiden continued to pace the _Ebon Hawk_ restlessly. It was still very early and she hadn't wanted to wake anyone, so for awhile she had confined herself to the immediate area of the cargo hold. Eventually expanding her route, she walked down the hallway towards the garage before stopping in her tracks, her expression narrowing into a frown from what she saw. For some reason, the loading ramp was open, where any manner of beast or hunter could board and potentially attack the crew in their sleep. She didn't know why it was down or how long it had been that way, but the ramp was supposed to remain closed when not in use, especially in potentially hostile environments like this one. Handmaiden quickly and quietly made her way towards the cockpit, and after finding Atton asleep in the captain's chair, she entered the security room and scanned the feeds from the security cameras onboard. Satisfied that there were no threats onboard the ship, she returned to the garage and cautiously made her way down the ramp to investigate. She got halfway down the ramp before everything suddenly made sense. She wasn't the only one awake at this hour.

A short distance away from the ship was the Jedi Exile, Fret Starscream, standing on the stump of what had been a very large tree while training outdoors in the early morning light. Even though the morning air was slightly cool, not having yet given way to the oppressive humidity of Dxun's daytime jungle climate, the shirtless weaponmaster was visibly glistening with sweat. Without conscious awareness, Handmaiden's eyes took inventory of the man she knew she was attracted to. He was tall, perhaps 6' 3", and his lean physique was well-defined without being overly muscular. The long hours spent in the sun on Dantooine had given his skin a tanned complexion that he didn't have when she first met him at the academy in the polar region of Telos. The exposure to the sun had also made the freckles on his face and arms visibly stand out more. But she found even these _imperfections_ to be adorable, much like his slightly crooked nose that had probably been broken at some point and not completely set properly before it healed. The clincher though was the eyes, golden-green orbs surrounded by eye lashes that many women would be envious of. They reminded her of autumn days on Eshan, the Echani homeworld she hadn't stepped foot on since she was a child. They were also his most expressive feature, and more than once she had to forcibly tear her gaze away, lest she lose herself in them.

The Exile's short, slightly wavy sandy blonde hair clung to his sweaty brow, making Handmaiden wonder just how long he'd been out there, and if he'd had just as much trouble sleeping as she had. Not wanting to interrupt him, she sat down on the ramp and quietly observed. It dawned on her that while she had seen him fight in battle numerous times and had sparred with him, she'd never actually seen him train. She found herself curious about his regimen.

-==0==-

As a former Jedi guardian that had advanced to the elite level of the weaponmasters, Fret prided himself on his mastery of many weapons and fighting techniques. Many years in exile with no connection to the Force helped with that as well, forcing him to become adept at handling conventional weapons. Whereas most Jedi were content to limit themselves to their lightsaber, he was comfortable with traditional weapons and blasters, and additionally trained hard to be equally proficient whether wielding his preferred double-bladed lightsaber, dual-wielding single-bladed lightsabers, or just wielding a single blade. He was unaware of Handmaiden's presence, but he was acutely aware of the three Mandalorians that were observing him from afar. One he knew had been assigned by their leader, Mandalore, to be their guide and take them to the Mandalorian camp, which was going to happen this day. The guide had advised them as much the previous day, shortly after the _Ebon Hawk_ landed and they'd gone outside to investigate the area. Fret assumed the other two to be scouts out on patrol. Nevertheless, Fret continued with his workout, using the makeshift stage provided by the large stump to admittedly do some showing off.

Handmaiden and the Mandalorians watched Fret deactivate the double-bladed saber he'd been training with and set it down. She'd missed the earlier part of the workout, where he started with a single vibroblade, progressed to dual-wielding vibroblades, and then repeated the process with single-bladed lightsabers. After that he'd picked up a quarterstaff and trained with that for awhile before switching to his double-bladed lightsaber. Now that he had finished his real workout, he decided to have a little fun.

Fret picked up a pair of quarterstaffs, grinning to himself. _"Kreia would ridicule me if she saw me goofing off like this,"_ he thought, chuckling slightly. He began twirling a staff in each hand, increasing the speed until they were a motion blur. He alternated attacks with them against imaginary opponents, always in motion. Handmaiden's eyes opened wide in astonishment. She immediately recognized that what the Exile was doing was largely impractical and of dubious effectiveness if done in an actual battle, but it was impressive nonetheless; if for no other reason than the hand, wrist, and forearm strength it took to maintain control over the quarterstaffs one-handed. Setting down the quarterstaffs after about 15 minutes of training with them, Fret picked a pair of double-bladed sabers. _"Time for the grand finale!"_ he thought, continuing to amuse himself.

Still watching intently, Handmaiden didn't notice that she now had company behind her as Fret activated his now familiar silver double-bladed saber alongside a second double-bladed saber with greenish blades that she'd never seen before but thought were striking in appearance. He flew into motion, the four individual blades seemingly twice as many as his speed made them impossible to track with the naked eye.

Behind Handmaiden, another female voice whistled appreciatively. "_Impressive… _this can't be helping his bounty go down any," said Mira sarcastically. "I'll have to remember to check it once we're back in civilization," she added casually, almost as an afterthought.

Handmaiden shook her head. She never knew whether or not Mira was being serious with all her talk of the Exile being her "bounty." Truthfully, it bothered her somewhat that Mira acted rather possessive of Fret in that regard, though thankfully it didn't seem to go beyond that to anything more _personal_.

"You'd better make your move on him soon," Mira advised her with a smirk. "If he keeps flaunting his stuff half-naked like this, I might jump his bones before you or Visas get around to it."

Handmaiden immediately frowned at the mention of the Sith's name, glaring slightly at Mira in response. She didn't trust the former assassin, regardless of Fret's opinion of her, and when she was being honest with herself she admitted that she was jealous of the time he spent with her, or to some degree even with Mira. Handmaiden knew she cared more deeply about the Exile than she probably should, especially without knowing if there was any chance he would reciprocate since Jedi were not supposed to love or form attachments. But she hoped more than anything that he wasn't developing those same types of feelings for Visas.

Mira laughed lightly at her reaction, Handmaiden's expression like someone who just bit into something very distasteful. "Relax, I'm just messing with you. Besides, even if he does keep his body in great shape, it wouldn't work. He's way too old for me."

Handmaiden raised an eyebrow curiously. "He is not _that_ old."

Mira shook her head. "I don't mean his age. The places he's been, the things he's done… you can see it in his eyes, in the way he carries himself. He likes to joke around and act carefree, but he's burdened."

"How do you know this?" asked Handmaiden skeptically.

"A good bounty hunter has to know everything about her marks. You learn to read people, to see meaning not just in what they say and how they say it, but in what they don't say. And you often learn more about someone by seeing what they do or how they act when they think no one is watching than you do by talking to them."

"You mean spying on them."

"Call it what you want, it comes with the territory in my line of work. But seriously… if you want to beat Visas to him, I already told you how I'd do it."

Handmaiden nodded, sighing. "I know, but I don't think your idea of stunning him and then tying him up and starving him is going to work."

"Your choice," replied Mira, shrugging her shoulders.

Their attention returned to Fret, who a few minutes later completed his 'routine' by deactivating both sabers, throwing them high in the air behind him, then Force jumping into a backflip. He caught both sabers in mid-air and reactivated them on the fly before twisting acrobatically and landing while simultaneously lashing out at an imaginary target. It was only as he walked back to the stump to gather the weapons he'd brought outside that he noticed the women sitting on the loading ramp watching him with smirks on their faces. Draping his robe over his shoulders and ambling back towards the ship, he smiled sheepishly, his expressive golden-green eyes revealing a slight embarrassment.

"Good morning, master," said Handmaiden, grinning slightly.

Mira's raised an eyebrow in confusion. "_Master_?" she asked. "What's _that_ about?"

Fret groaned, shaking his head. "_Please_… no… let's not do the 'master' thing. I'm still just 'Fret'." Turning to Mira, he added, "Handmaiden is Force-sensitive and I've agreed to train her in the ways of the Force." _"Much to Kreia's chagrin,_" he thought solemnly to himself.

Mira laughed. "You put something in the water on this bucket that causes everyone to turn into Jedi? Me and Bao-Dur are the only holdouts left then?"

Chuckling, Fret shook his head again. "Nah, nothing so nefarious. But I haven't forgotten my promise to take you back to Nar Shadaa and show you how to listen to life through the Force."

Smirking, Mira replied, "Yeah… just don't hold your breath on that amounting to anything."

Mira suddenly grinned mischievously. "So you gonna teach her that whole crazy dual-wielding saberstaffs stunt you just pulled back there?" Both Handmaiden and she laughed gleefully at his fidgeting, self-conscious reaction.

"Well…" he began, "I was really just showing off for the benefit of the Mandies over there," he explained, gesturing in the direction of the Mandalorians on the other side of the clearing. "I didn't know you guys were over here watching too."

"It's not a big deal, nothing to get self-conscious about," Handmaiden replied, waving her hand dismissively.

"Well, I don't want you to get the impression that's how I normally train. I do generally take it more seriously than that."

Nodding, Handmaiden smiled in reassurance at him.

"Anyway," said Fret, "I'm going to go stow these weapons and hit the 'fresher. I want to get an early start on going over to the Mandalorian camp, so I'm planning to grab a bite to eat after my shower and then get ready to go. You guys want to go with me today?"

"Like you have to ask Handmaiden," replied Mira, smirking again. "Yeah, I'll go with you. It's not like anyone else on the crew knows more about Mandalorians than I do anyway."

Handmaiden blushed slightly from Mira's remark before quickly redirecting the conversation. "I keep forgetting you're a Mandalorian, you don't really fit the mold."

Mira shrugged. "Most people nowadays think that all Mandalorians are gruff males decked out in full battle armor, but that wasn't always the case. I suppose the mercenary thugs feed that impression though. Besides, the Mandalorians always took in and comingled with the strongest of the people they conquered, so over time the Mandalorian race became rather diluted from what it once was. Other than the ones that wore the traditional armor, you really couldn't tell someone was a Mandalorian just by looking at them unless you got a good look at their tribal tattoos and knew what you were looking at. It's more a culture than anything at this point."

Handmaiden and Fret nodded in understanding before Fret started heading inside, asking them to meet in the garage in 45 minutes to depart for the Mandalorian camp.


	2. Chapter 2

Fret grinned as he walked into the garage and found Handmaiden waiting. She was wearing her mother's gray Jedi robes in place of the customary uniform all of Atris' handmaidens at the Telos Academy wore. What he liked best was that her hood was down, which made her appearance that much more striking. It was a silly little thing, but his favorite thing about her appearance was the pair of intricate braids of hair that hung down in front of each ear. He knew he felt a lot of affection for her, and struggled with himself about it. On the one hand, he'd jettisoned the Jedi teachings forbidding love not long after the Council exiled him. Because of Atris he hadn't completely agreed with it anyway when he was a Jedi, but he'd upheld the standard as part of his duty to the Order. Once he was stripped of his rank of Jedi Knight and cast out, however, there was definitely no need to deny himself the love of another. Unfortunately, he'd never managed to find himself in the right situation for that to happen.

On the other hand, he knew Handmaiden looked up to him, at times with almost a sense of awe. And he worried that he'd be taking advantage of that if he revealed his feelings, because he felt she might go along with it just to please him and not because she truly felt that way towards him as well. He also worried that a relationship could create a dangerous distraction to both of them on the mission, as well as a distraction to the rest of the crew. In particular, his relationship with Kreia, who functioned much like a master to him, was already tenuous at best, and she had expressed great displeasure at the amount of _attention_ he was giving the "servant of Atris," as she called Handmaiden. The mission was dangerous enough as it was, he wasn't sure they could afford to have unnecessary distractions take their focus away from the goal. But even knowing all of this didn't make it any easier for Fret, who had selflessly worked his entire life to do what was best for others, but wanted to do something selfishly for himself for a change. For now though, he continued to resist the urge.

"Hey," he said, continuing to grin while approaching Handmaiden in the garage, "You look sharp."

She smiled in response. "I… I guess I feel like it is okay to wear these now."

Fret nodded in agreement. "Definitely." Handmaiden noticed his expression turn somewhat serious, as if he was contemplating something. Before she could ask him about it, he looked up and resumed speaking.

"I was going to save this for later, but since Mira isn't here yet I guess I'll go ahead and do this now." Fret reached inside his equipment pack and produced a double-bladed lightsaber. "I want you to have this," he explained, holding it in his outstretched hand to her.

Handmaiden's eyes grew wide in astonishment. The thought had of course crossed her mind that she'd get to carry a lightsaber at some point, but she never expected one so early. She took the offered gift from Fret, holding the saberstaff delicately while turning it over in her slightly trembling hands, her eyes greedily taking in every last detail of it.

"I… I d-do not know what to say," she admittedly softly. "This is amazing…"

Fret chuckled lightly at her reaction. "You'll still get to make your own lightsaber like every Jedi does, but I wanted you to have this one."

Handmaiden gently ran her thumb over the activation switch several times before finally pressing it and hearing the familiar _snap-hiss_ as the greenish blades danced to life. She guessed from the color that it was the second saberstaff he'd been training with earlier. After a few tentative swings she powered down the saber.

"I know I haven't seen many lightsabers in general, but I have never seen one with this color blade. It is beautiful."

Fret nodded. "Viridian… it's a pretty rare focusing crystal. My… my first lightsaber… the one the Council took from me… had viridian blades. The hilt was slightly different and not quite as slender as this one, but it was very similar."

"How did you come across such a rare crystal as a padawan?"

Fret eyed her questioningly before realizing what she was actually asking. "Oh, my first lightsaber didn't have the viridian crystal right off. When I originally built it I used a blue crystal I had received from my master, like most Jedi guardians do. It was years later when I found the viridian crystal."

Nodding in understanding, Handmaiden commented, "It will take some time to get used to the saberstaff, it feels so much quicker than my staff."

Fret grinned. "Well, to be fair, that lightsaber does have a couple of upgrades that help with that. I don't know if you know this, but in addition to a color crystal, you can also use specialized crystals that modify the quality and behavior of the blade." Gesturing to the viridian double-bladed lightsaber in her hand, he added, "This one has a _Jenraux_ crystal that makes it easier to block blaster shots, and a _Nextor_ crystal that makes the blades even more keen than usual. It also has a fairly strong _fencing emitter_, which makes the saber much quicker to handle. So it's easier to attack and defend in close combat. But anyway, don't think you need to switch to using a lightsaber right away. I'll give you lessons of course, and you can carry it along with your staff. Maybe transition into it, using the lightsaber for the easier battles and the staff for the harder ones until you feel fully comfortable with the saberstaff."

She smiled, thinking how the upgrades he described played to her strengths. "I have only seen your saberstaff that has the silver blades. When did you get this one?"

Smiling sheepishly while scratching the back of his head, Fret admitted, "Uhh… well… I made it for you last night."

Handmaiden blushed briefly, her heart racing at the sentiment. She didn't know if his staying up late constructing her first lightsaber meant anything special, but she hoped it did. She knew he didn't make one for Atton when he became a sentinel back on Nar Shadaa, but Fret might not have had all the parts he needed either. Regardless, it meant a lot to her that he did. "Thank you…" she whispered, her voice crackling slightly.

After a minute or so of staring at her new lightsaber in awe, she noticed that Fret hadn't said anything else and appeared distracted.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Huh?" he asked, looking up. "Oh, sorry… just tired… I couldn't get to sleep at all last night."

Handmaiden's brow furrowed into a frown. "You said the same thing yesterday. When was the last time you slept?"

Shrugging, Fret replied, "Hard to tell with hyperspace travel, day and night is all the same."

"Exile…" she began in a low voice, her tone indicating she wasn't satisfied with that answer.

Before he could reply, Mira entered the garage and said, "Sorry I'm late, I was listening in on a _very _interesting conversation between Kreia and Atton, and didn't want to leave until it was over." She grinned wickedly.

Handmaiden was appalled. "You eavesdropped on a private conversation?" she asked incredulously, while Fret merely raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"Oh, don't look at me like that!" exclaimed Mira, waving her hand dismissively. "I went up there to tell Atton we were heading out, and heard Kreia telling him that the ship wouldn't be repaired until the Exile had seen whatever it is he needs to see here."

"How would she know that?" asked Handmaiden.

Mira rolled her eyes, the Echani warrior could be so naïve at times. "She's simply doing what she does best, manipulating the situation to fit her plans. I only caught enough to know it has something to do with Fret's past."

"His past?" Handmaiden glanced over at Fret, who had a slightly pensive expression. "Exile, do you know what she means?"

Fret sighed, in part because of what Kreia was doing and in part because he was beyond tired of being called 'the Exile', as if that one single act of labeling him by the Jedi Council defined everything there was about him. He was sick of the constant reminder of it from even those he considered his friends. Pushing those thoughts aside, he answered, "Dxun is where the Mandalorian Wars started, and was also the last major battle before Malachor V. I fought here…" Fret closed his eyes and sighed again.

"Bad memories I take it?" asked Handmaiden.

Fret chuckled sardonically. "I don't have even _one_ good memory of this forsaken moon. _All _of my memories are bad memories. Dxun is called the _Demon Moon _for good reason. I can't imagine what we'll find out there now," he added, gesturing to indicate he meant outside the ship on the surface of Dxun. "The fighting was a freakin' blood bath that lasted for weeks. It was horrific…"

Handmaiden nodded solemnly, while Mira opted to move things along.

"Come on, guys, we won't find anything out standing around here. Let's go see the Mandies…"

Nodding in agreement, Fret punched the switch to lower the loading ramp, which they'd closed upon reentering earlier. The trio stepped down the ramp and crossed the clearing to meet the Mandalorian guide, who took them to the camp to meet with Mandalore.

-==0==-

Conversation was light on the way over to the Mandalorian camp. Part of that was from the presence of the guide, who didn't seem especially thrilled at having to do escort duty for what he deemed to be a couple of Jedi. Fret told the guide that he wasn't a member of the Jedi Order anymore, but like most people they ran into, the fact the was a Force user who carried a lightsaber automatically made him a 'Jedi', regardless of what organization he was or wasn't affiliated with. The guide was one of the Mandalorians that had a grudging respect for the Jedi for having defeated them in the war. But they were still the enemy, and respecting someone didn't mean you necessarily wanted to invite them over for dinner.

The other reason for the lack of conversation was the plethora of native wildlife along their path. The camp was not very far, roughly five klicks from where the _Ebon Hawk_ landed, but the sheer number of cannoks and maalraas made the trek a lot slower than it otherwise would have been. The bug-eyed amphibian-like cannoks were little more than a nuisance despite their great numbers. The cat-like maalraas were a little more dangerous because of their natural dexterity, and because they seemed just a little smarter than the cannoks in how they fought. They didn't pose a significant threat to three battle-tested warriors and a Force-sensitive Mandalorian bounty hunter, but the quantity of the beast population did force them to stay alert at all times.

Shortly before they arrived at the camp, the party was stopped when a team of four Mandalorians out on patrol deactivated their stealth generator belts to reveal Fret and crew were surrounded.

"What's this about?" asked the Mandalorian guide of the scout leader in clear annoyance.

The scout leader answered the question with one of his own. "Who are these people, and where are you taking them?" he asked suspiciously. Fret being Fret, he couldn't resist the urge to poke at the overly serious Mandalorian.

"I was thinking of starting a Czerka office here. I sense a lot of untapped potential," he deadpanned. Mira looked away to keep from giggling, while Handmaiden rested her head in her hand and groaned slightly at the bad joke. Fret could only imagine the look of confusion on the poor Mandalorian's face under his helmet, which made it hard to keep a straight face.

"That was a joke, right?" the scout leader half-stated half-asked. "We'll see how long you keep your sense of humor in this jungle. But I have my orders, so answer the question, _Jedi_. What are you doing out here?"

The guide growled in frustration. "Get out of our way. I have orders from Mandalore himself to escort these people to him."

"Yeah, so how does that work again?" asked Fret mockingly, "given that we killed Mandalore during the war?" His already foul mood at being on Dxun again and being surrounded by Mandalorians was souring further with each passing minute of dealing with these scrubs.

"Bold words, Jedi," stated the scout leader tersely. "Do not forget you are on _our_ turf and you are outnumbered here. If you really want to put yourself to the test against a real warrior, it can be arranged later."

"Please do not provoke them any further, Exile," said Handmaiden softly.

"_The _Jedi Exile?" the scout leader sneered, his voice taking on a tone that showed a higher level of both bitterness and respect than before. "The dirty little Jedi secret that killed hundreds of thousands of allies and foes alike in one fell swoop at Malachor V? I was there… one of the few Mandalorians who survived it."

Fret's expression turned dark. "We are _not_ discussing Malachor V," he warned.

"Exile…" began Handmaiden.

"I have a name, you know, you'd do well to learn to use it!" Fret snapped at her with a furious glare, causing her to flinch in shock at his reaction. She felt her own anger flare, but stifled it and looked away without saying anything.

"Alright, reunion's over," stated Mira matter-of-factly. "Our business is with Mandalore, so we'll be on our way now." With that she began walking towards the camp, which could clearly be seen a little ways off. Fret and Handmaiden followed her lead without any further comment.


	3. Chapter 3

Fret was even more irritated with the situation after talking to Mandalore, who declared that while he _could_ shuttle Fret and company over to Iziz, the main port on Onderon, he wasn't going to until Fret "proved his worth." Mandalore then told him to go ask around camp how to do that. In other words, they weren't going anywhere until they did a bunch of grunt work for the Mandalorians.

After walking around camp talking to various people, Fret took a seat on a plasteel cylinder and gave an exasperated sigh as he ran his hand through his hair. "Okay, so let's take stock of what we've got to work with so far."

"Mandalore mentioned a weapons cache that needs some charges set off to open," stated Handmaiden flatly. Fret glanced up at her wearily before averting his eyes back down. He knew she was still mad at him from his outburst earlier. She hadn't spoken directly to him since then, and she wasn't even looking at him right now.

"The tech officer needs help finding the parts to fix their telemetry computer," added Mira.

"Yeah, no way I'm going around gutting cannoks to find the parts that got eaten," Fret muttered. "What else?"

"The guard by the camp entrance mentioned hunting a zakkeg. He thinks it'll be a tough challenge anyway. And then there's finding the missing recruit for the trainer."

"And there's always the battle circle," Fret mused. "Could be the path of least resistance, we don't even have to venture out into the jungle to do that."

"They'll only let you fight in it," Mira noted. "Should Handmaiden and I go work on one of the other options while you're doing that?"

"What? You don't wanna stand around and be cheerleaders?" Fret asked, flashing a coy grin.

While Handmaiden rolled her eyes, Mira wagged her finger at Fret. "Be careful what you wish for," she replied, gesturing at Handmaiden, "this one here might decide to root for the other team."

Fret didn't say anything for a moment, waiting to see if Handmaiden would object to Mira's statement. When she didn't speak up, he finally said, "Well, I think I'll start with the battle circle." Triggering his com link, Fret called out, "Atton, come in."

After a few moments, Atton responded with a tinge of vexation in his voice, _"Yeah? Whatcha need?"_

Fret ignored Atton's annoyed demeanor, chalking it up to frustration with the repairs he was working on. "Need you to send HK out to meet us at the Mandalorian camp. Have him lock on to my coordinates."

"_HK? You got trouble out there already?"_ Atton was clearly surprised at the request.

"Nah, nothing like that. They're holding a shuttle run down to Onderon over our heads until we do a bunch of busy work for them, and I just want some extra help to speed up that process."

"_Sure you don't want someone other than HK for that? You know, like someone you won't have to worry about shooting a Mandalorian and starting another battle here?"_

"Duly noted. Send HK on his way with instructions that he is only to engage the local wildlife and to leave the Mandalorians alone unless they fire first."

"_Got it… Atton out."_

After the com link disconnected, Mira said, "I have to agree with Atton on this one. Most of these jobs won't have any killing to speak of, so why the assassin droid?"

Fret clenched his teeth. Ordinarily he wouldn't think anything of his companions offering input on his decisions, but his patience had frayed to the point where even the smallest things were irritating him, like having to explain himself.

"Bao-Dur has too much history with Mandalorians from the war. I think he'd be even easier to provoke into attacking someone. Atton is tied up with repairs, I'm pretty sure you two don't want to team up with Kreia by yourselves, I _know_ I don't want Handmaiden to be on a team with Visas right now without me being there to mediate, I don't trust G0-T0 as far as I can Force push him, and T3 would have a very hard time with the terrain here. Besides that, he's more useful helping Atton and Bao-Dur with the repairs. The errands we have to take care of might not play to HK's strengths, but I trust him to follow orders efficiently and to the letter. I have enough to worry about without adding having to worry about someone doing something stupid because their emotions got the best of them… myself included. So does that sufficiently explain why I asked for HK-47?"

"Calm down, already," Mira replied, not taking any of his guff. "I wasn't _questioning_ your decision like it was wrong. It's not unreasonable to want to know what the plan is, why you decided the way you did."

"Anyway," Fret continued, "I don't expect I'll get to just go from match to match in the battle circle, so I'll probably be tied up with that for awhile. After HK gets here, the three of you can go work on some of the other stuff. Maybe start with the stuff for the tech officer that's around the camp. I don't mean going out hacking and field dressing cannoks, I mean the stuff like fixing the power cables and all. Hmmm… could be worthwhile to let HK go slaughter cannoks to retrieve the missing parts, he'd probably actually like that. Second on the list would be to go look for the missing recruit. Maybe by the time you guys are done I'll be done with my part, and then we can go from there on what to do next."

"Sounds like a plan then," Mira agreed.

Handmaiden merely rose from the plasteel cylinder she'd been sitting on, and began striding towards the area with the battle circle. Fret and Mira exchanged glances, and Mira gestured silently, nodding her head in the direction of Handmaiden while maintaining eye contact with Fret. He sighed.

"Handmaiden, you going to be okay?" he asked.

She stopped in her tracks and slowly glanced back. "Of course, _master_," she answered, emphasizing the latter in a clipped tone of voice while glaring at him.

Mira coughed. "Yeah, uhh… so I'm gonna go check the quartermaster's stock, see what they've got in the way of weapon upgrades. I'll… uhh… catch up with you two at the battle circle." With that, she quickly made herself scarce, leaving Handmaiden and Fret facing each other in an awkward silence.

Fret was the first to break the silence. "Handmaiden…" he said softly, "I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. I was frustrated by the whole situation and took it out on you. It was wrong of me to do that, you didn't deserve it."

"You are right, I didn't," she replied flatly, still standing in front of him with her arms folded across her chest. She wasn't convinced that he was being completely sincere, that he wasn't just telling her what she wanted to hear.

He felt his irritation beginning to well up inside of him again at her attitude, but pushed it back down as best he could. "I really _am_ sorry." With a tinge of exasperation in his tone, he added, "I don't know what else I can say." He ran his hand wearily through his hair again, briefly closing his eyes before opening them and glancing up at her.

Handmaiden frowned. His eyes communicated an exhaustion that was not just physical. She wondered just what had him so out of sorts. Another thought occurred to her.

"You never answered my question earlier. When was the last time you slept?"

"Huh? I… think I had a nap a couple of days ago, why?"

"Because you look like you are running on fumes at this point. What is wrong, Exile?"

Fret tensed up again, his hands balling into fists. She noticed his reaction and immediately made the connection that it was because of what she called him. Before he could speak, she added, "Forgive me, but I do not understand why calling you 'Exile' is offending you all of a sudden. Is it not what you are?"

Fret scoffed. "Is that all that you see when you look at me?" he asked in annoyance. "The Jedi Exile, stripped of the Force and cast off to the far reaches of the galaxy as punishment for his heinous crimes? Cursed to be reminded of it day after day by friends and foes alike? Is all you see a man whose crimes were so horrible that he doesn't even deserve a name- only a title that serves as a cautionary tale to all generations of Jedi to come?" Mimicking Master Vrook's voice, Fret exclaimed, "'You'd better do what the masters say, padawans and younglings, you don't want to end up like _The Exile, _do you?' Then they all chant in unison, 'Nooo, Master! Anything but _that_! We'll never be like _The Exile_!'" He shook his head in disgust.

"Fret…" she said softly, "you know I don't see you as any of that. I would not have pledged myself to you if I did."

"I know I can't escape my past, but I wish… I wish that I had _some_ reprieve from it, _some _sanctuary, at least in the company of friends. But no one ever lets me forget, even for a moment. That was the one nice thing about wandering out past the outer rim in anonymity. I didn't have to deal with these constant reminders." Staring at the ground, he quietly added, "Sometimes I wonder if I'm just some cruel mistake… an echo of myself… that the Force forgot to take with it at Malachor V."

Handmaiden gulped, her previous anger forgotten. His last words were very similar to how her mistress had described him, and she had a feeling that those words had been spoken to him personally at some point. She'd gotten glimpses into his feelings in past conversations and knew he felt burdened, but this was the most he'd ever revealed to her about how his past affected him. Handmaiden had grown up being taught to suppress her emotions, that emotion was a weakness. But the more she was around the Exile, the less she felt the need or desire to do so. She knelt down in front of him in order to make eye contact, since he was still sitting on the plasteel container staring at the ground. She gave him a gentle smile of reassurance.

"Please understand that we mean you no disrespect when we call you 'Exile'. There is no ill intent behind it. But knowing now that it hurts you, I shall do my best not to refer to you as that."

Fret nodded. "I'm sorry, Handmaiden… I shouldn't have dumped all that on you. I… I'm just… finding it difficult to center myself in this place. Dxun was pretty much the last of the fighting before Malachor, and memories long buried are resurfacing in droves. I'm struggling to control my emotions; they keep getting the best of me."

"Hey…" she whispered gently, "Do not think of it as a burden to me. I feel honored that you trust me enough to share such personal thoughts and feelings, as I have with you."

"Thanks… just… bear with me, okay? I'll try to get it back together."

Standing back up, Handmaiden offered her hand to Fret, pulling him to his feet when he took it. "Of course, Fret," she replied. She smiled sincerely at him, a smile he gratefully returned. "Let's go work out some of your frustration in the battle circle."


	4. Chapter 4

"So the Jedi comes to grace us," scoffed the Mandalorian running the battle circle. "The battle circle is reserved only for _real_ warriors. Your Jedi ways won't help you here."

"Oh, no! Whatever will I do?" exclaimed Fret mockingly.

The Mandalorian sergeant sneered. "Jedi rely too much on their vaunted powers, they lose touch with the natural power of their hands and feet. Without the _Force_ would you be a match for even the lowliest of Mandalorian warriors?"

"Your ignorance of him is astounding," Handmaiden remarked to the Mandalorian, causing Fret to chuckle in amusement.

"And what would an _Echani_ know about being a warrior? Your prissy, dainty fighting styles are nothing on the field of battle against a true Mandalorian."

Handmaiden's eyes flashed in anger. "Would you care to put that to the test?" she asked angrily.

The sergeant laughed sarcastically. "Don't waste our time. The only reason your Jedi friend here can join the battle circle is because Mandalore wills it. We do _not_ have to suffer the likes of you as well."

"Well, chief…" began Fret evenly, "You're pretty lucky that she helped me out with my bad mood earlier, otherwise I'd have let her kill you just to prove a point about Echani toughness. But since I'm not going to do that, at least get to the point. What's the battle circle?"

Handmaiden was still annoyed at the Mandalorian, but Fret's words had calmed her somewhat. She knew he wouldn't have _really_ let her kill the sergeant, but she appreciated the sentiment anyway. She remained quiet, letting him handle these guys.

Scoffing at the notion of the Echani Jedi killing him, the sergeant replied, "The battle circle is part of our training regimen. A full Mandalorian is a master of many fighting techniques, and here all of them are tested. If you were to compete, it would be on _our_ terms. Those with the greater honor dictate the terms of engagement."

Fret nodded, appearing bored. "So what do I get when I win?" "_Might as well amuse myself by getting under their skin."_

"You presume much, Jedi. We are not merchants, we are _Mandalorians_. The only thing gained and lost here is honor. And perhaps some skill, if you have the capacity to learn anything."

Sarcastically, Fret replied, "I see, none of you are merchants. Except for your quartermaster. Oh, and you do have a repairman as well. Do you have a guy that cleans the 'freshers, too? Or someone that cuts the grass? Or takes out the trash? Or-"

"Enough! Do you wish to fight here or not?" the sergeant asked, clearly ready to be done talking.

"Sure, set me up with a match."

"You are new here, so you have no honor to speak of. You will fight Davrel. He is young and has not been able to prove himself in battle. Davrel! What are your terms?"

Davrel approached the group, stepping into the ring of the battle circle. Raising his fist out in front of him, he smugly declared, "No weapons, no Jedi tricks. Just fist and foot. A true test of a warrior."

"Except for the part where you wear full battle armor that breaks my hands if I punch you, while I fight in my robes?" asked Fret, laughing lightly. He didn't really care, he just couldn't resist poking at them.

"Are you frightened, Jedi? Afraid to face a Mandalorian without your lightsaber or Force?" countered Davrel, dropping into a fighting stance.

Fret shook his head. If the sloppy way this kid held his stance was any indication of his skill, this was going to be a very short fight. "You know what, kid? Since you guys insulted my friend, I'm going to break you with an Echani stance that she only taught me yesterday."

Davrel snorted derisively as Fret stepped into the ring and settled into the stance Handmaiden taught him during their last spar. His eyes narrowed in concentration, and all messing around ceased as he became deadly serious and focused. Handmaiden felt her cheeks getting warm both from Fret's words and actions. His stance was beautiful to her, not just because it was Echani, but because he held it flawlessly and she knew he did so for _her_. Mira grinned at her reaction and winked, causing Handmaiden to blush further and glance away.

Eager to put the Jedi in his place, Davrel lunged forward in a bull rush, attempting to bowl his opponent over. Fret spun away at the last moment, using his natural agility combined with the speed afforded by his fighting stance to avoid the charging Mandalorian. Catching his young opponent out of position, Fret turned and palm striked him on the back of the helmet. He knew he wasn't going to hurt the armored Mandalorian with his hands, but he could at least get his attention.

Davrel spun back around and growled angrily. "Running away alrea-"

Fret cut him off in mid-sentence with a quick snap kick to the stomach, which he immediately followed up with spinning crescent kick to the side of the head. The force of the kick rattled Davrel's head in his helmet, hurting him despite the protection of the heavy battle helm. Davrel growled and swung his arm wildly at the Exile, who ducked to the side of the punch before bringing his knee up to connect firmly with the joint in the armor just below the Mandalorian's ribs. Davrel gasped at the force of the impact, but recovered and attempted to deliver a roundhouse kick to Fret's head in retaliation. Fret reached up and caught Davrel's foot, straining to stop its momentum before it reached his head. Succeeding in that, the weaponmaster countered with a roundhouse kick of his own to the knee of Davrel's plant leg, and as it buckled immediately threw a second roundhouse kick to the side of his head as he was toppling, letting go of his foot as the young Mandalorian fell down. Davrel grunted painfully but dragged himself to his feet. He just started to move forward when Fret unloaded a tornado kick to the side of Davrel's head that dropped him like a rock. Davrel didn't regain consciousness until after the sergeant called the match.

"The Jedi is the clear and honorable victor," the Mandalorian sergeant declared with slight bitterness in his voice.

"I have lost," said Davrel painfully after getting back up. "But this was no true contest. Jedi are skilled warriors, and I am young. I will train very hard to match you in combat next time."

Fret shook his head. "What happened to that smug arrogance you were bringing _before_ the match? If you spent as much time training as you do making promises about what you're _going _to do, you'd probably be twice the warrior you are." He then turned to the battle circle leader. "So, who do I get next?"

The sergeant snarled at Fret, who couldn't see the expression under the helmet. "Defeating Davrel has gained you a _small _amount of honor. Kex the quartermaster wishes to challenge you now. As he is the challenger, you may choose the terms."

"_Wow," _Fret thought to himself. "_If they're letting me choose the terms it must mean this guy's honor is pretty much non-existent._" Shrugging, Fret asked, "What do you suggest? I could claim my lightsaber, but obviously your boy wouldn't stand a chance."

Both the quartermaster and the sergeant bristled at the pompous attitude displayed by the Jedi. The sergeant especially looked forward to the higher level Mandalorian warriors putting him in his place. "I would suggest melee weapons, perhaps a simple longsword," he replied.

Fret rubbed his chin as he contemplated it. Walking back towards Mira and Handmaiden, he called out, "Melee weapons it is, Kex. Pick whatever you want." Reaching his companions, he bowed to Handmaiden and playfully asked in an overly formal tone of voice, "My lady, might I trouble you to lend me your staff for a few minutes? I promise not to scuff it up too badly on my opponent's armor."

Despite the situation, she couldn't help but laugh at his demeanor. "You are crazy, you know that?" She smiled warmly at Fret as she handed him the staff that had been passed down to her by her father.

"You want a scouting report?" asked Mira.

Fret looked at her curiously. "Sure, if you've got one."

Mira nodded. "I was talking to him a bit while checking out his wares. He's pretty much a bitter old man, his glory days are behind him and being the quartermaster here is basically forced retirement. It's not a job the Mandalorians give to anyone that's truly capable of fighting."

"Yeah, I was thinking that if they let me pick the terms, he must have even less honor around here than Davrel, which is saying something."

"Be careful, Fret," Handmaiden warned. "A desperate enemy with nothing to lose is a dangerous enemy. You know he wants more than anything to prove himself in the eyes of his clan."

"Are you going to stand there talking to your girlfriend all day or fight?" shouted Kex snidely from the battle circle. Fret turned around to see his opponent standing with a vibroblade at his side, impatiently waiting for him.

Nodding to the women, Fret strode back to the battle circle while sarcastically replying, "Well, she's definitely a lot easier on the eyes than your ugly mug is." He pressed the activation button on Handmaiden's spring loaded staff, extending it from a short baton to a full length quarterstaff. "Ready?" he asked, dropping into a crouching stance with the staff pointed slightly down in front of him.

-==0==-

Fret didn't have to wait long. In typical overaggressive Mandalorian fashion, Kex pressed forward on the offensive. Once again, when it came time to fight, the Exile was all business. He knew any opponent swinging a long sharp blade had the potential to inflict serious harm if you gave him an opening. As Kex spun his vibroblade into a vicious overhand chop, Fret flicked the end of the staff that was out in front of him upward to parry. After deflecting the attack, he immediately brought the other end forward in a slashing motion that connected squarely with the quartermaster's blade hand and caused him to lose his grip on the vibroblade. Kex gasped, his surprise more than evident as the blade dropped to the ground. Seizing the initiative, Fret spun the staff around his back, leveraging the centrifugal force generated by it in a strike aimed at his opponent's head. Kex threw his arms up to block the attack, his gauntlets the only thing saving him from receiving a pair of shattered forearms from the impact. But the force of the attack still knocked him back and off-balance.

-==0==-

"Query: Why are we standing around letting master have all the fun?"

Mira and Handmaiden exchanged glances before Handmaiden replied to the assassin droid that had joined them moments earlier. "This is their training circle. They fight but there is not going to be any killing."

"Mockery: Then what is the point?"

"Your turn," Handmaiden said to Mira, causing her friend to laugh.

"Are you familiar with the concept of 'honor'?"

"Answer: Oh, yes. It is how meatbags establish a pecking order of dominance over each other."

"Errr… something like that," Mira answered. "Anyway, the Mandalorian battle circle is part training and part gaining and losing honor."

The seven foot tall rusty red assassin droid's glowing red photoreceptors flickered. "Speculative Observation: master's opponent appears too unskilled to offer much value in the way of training or in achieving a higher level of honor. Conclusion: A waste of time."

Mira grinned. "For once, HK, I couldn't agree with you more."

-==0==-

Fret took the opportunity afforded by his previous attack to step forward, and in a sweeping motion he flipped the fallen vibroblade off the ground and into the air with his foot. He caught it and in the same fluid motion dropped back into his fighting stance, blade in his right hand and staff in his left. He glared at the aging quartermaster.

Kex swore in frustration at having been disarmed less than ten seconds into the match, and now being left with his enemy wielding his own weapon against him. He briefly considered whether or not he should simply resign at this point, but realized he would be even more humiliated if he withdrew from the match, he'd never hear the end of it from the others. But he didn't have a lot of options in his current position.

Twirling Handmaiden's staff in his left hand, Fret thought briefly about how he wanted to break down his opponent before opting to throw the vibroblade out of the ring and bring the staff back into a more conventional two-handed grip. Thinking the Jedi had unwittingly given him an opening, Kex took a couple of steps and leapt into a jump kick, hoping to bring his heavy boot down on the arrogant Jedi's face.

Fret gracefully sidestepped the telegraphed attack, then without ceasing his motion swung the staff around. It landed with a loud _crack_ square on the quartermaster's back, sending him sprawling face first into the dirt. As Kex moved to get his legs under himself to stand, Fret swung the staff back around the other direction and swept his feet out from under him, putting the Mandalorian's face back in the dirt.

This time Kex rolled away in order to get to his feet, and charged Fret with a ferocity he hadn't previously shown. Fret settled back into a defensive posture, parrying each of the onslaught of kicks and punches thrown by Kex with one end of the staff or the other while making no attempt to counter with his own offense. He knew his opponent's rage couldn't sustain him forever, so he concentrated all of his efforts on keeping Kex's attacks from breaching his defenses. Sure enough, the older man's endurance began to wane. The speed of his attacks slowed, and he was panting audibly for breath. After an especially sloppy left hook left Kex stumbling forward when it caught nothing but air, Fret kicked the quartermaster hard in the midsection with his left foot to double him over, then finished him off by drilling him with the staff in the side of the head with a hard right to left slashing motion.

"The Jedi is the clear and honorable victor," declared the battle circle leader. He expected no less against the old quartermaster, so his tone held none of the bitterness that it did after the previous match. He was merely biding his time until one of the champions of the camp wiped the ground with the smug Jedi. Fret walked back out of the circle to join his companions. After conversing with them briefly, he sent the trio of Mira, Handmaiden, and HK-47 off to search for the missing Mandalorian recruit while he waited around for his next match.


	5. Chapter 5

Mira held point, her custom micro-pulse blaster in hand, with Handmaiden trailing her by several meters and HK-47 covering the rear with his repeating blaster rifle several more meters back. They had just rounded a ridge in the Dxun jungle when a voice called out.

"You there! I… I am in need of some… assistance." The man sounded pained at having to ask.

Spotting the Mandalorian standing on the ledge of the ridge up above them, Mira asked, "Are you Kumus?"

"Yes, I am Kumus..."

"Huh, Xarga thought you were dead."

"He was not wrong to think that," Kumus admitted. "We assume that any Mandalorian who does not report back within a day has been taken by the jungle. I still live… I am just in a… difficult situation."

"Observation: My calculations indicate that if we were to press the detonator switch there, his situation would no longer be difficult." He gestured with his rifle towards the permacrete detonator that lay on the ground in front of them, in the middle of the path.

"What the- don't touch that switch, you'll blow me up along with everything else on this ridge!" Kumus shouted in mild panic.

"Unnecessary Explanation: Exactly."

"What are you doing up there?" Handmaiden asked, trying to steer the discussion away from blowing up the Mandalorian.

"A patrol was sent to look for weapons caches in this region. After they found some sites that looked promising, Xarga told me to prove myself by taking explosives to the sites and uncovering the caches, if they exist."

"And that explains how you got up there?" asked Mira, smirking.

Kumus sighed. "After easily dispatching some maalraas, I removed my pack and began to plant charges along this ridge. But when I finished setting the charges, I looked down to see cannoks swarming all over my pack. The pests were eating everything!"

"Mocking Query: You fled from _cannoks_ to hide up there?"

Growling in frustration, Kumus shook his fist. "No! Of _course_ I killed the cannoks, I am a _Mandalorian_! But then a herd of bomas arrived and I had no more ammo… my extra energy cells had been in my pack."

"Condescending Statement: You could have retrieved the energy cells from the soft fleshy underbellies of these cannoks, unless you were too squeamish."

"Isn't running out of ammo against the Mandalorian code or something?" Handmaiden asked in amusement.

"How often have _you_ had to change out energy cells? Blaster rifle cells last a long time."

Mira shook her head. "_Is this what the Mandalorians have come to?" _she thought to herself. "I can't believe you got outwitted by some cannoks. They're like the gizka of Dxun. You're damned lucky one of them didn't come along and set off the detonator trying to eat it."

"Enough!" shouted Kumus. "If you are only here to mock me, then leave!"

Handmaiden sighed. "If we gave you one of our spare energy cells could you make it back to camp?"

"I… my blaster rifle… is useless. It broke when I used it to bash in a cannok's skull. I have been stranded up here two days now, weaponless. You must have cleared a path through the beasts in coming here, if you take care of the bomas around the side of the ridge I should be able to make it to safety."

"Statement: This incompetent meatbag will not survive long needing others to do everything for him. Let us spare him the humiliation and simply press the detonator switch."

Mira waved her hand in irritation. "Kumus, you can borrow my backup blaster pistol, but you're damned well not going to hide up there while we fight for you. So take off your skirt and get your ass down here." Kumus bristled at the red-headed girl's insult, the insinuation that he was being a pussy. But he grudgingly complied with her order and came down from the ledge.

"Query: Do we still get to engage in unadulterated violence with the fleshy meatbags you call bomas?"

"Forget about it, HK," answered Mira, handing Kumus her backup, an Arkanian heavy blaster. "Let's head back to camp. Besides, there will probably be plenty of other things for you to kill along the way…"

"Excited Statement: My behavior core glows in anticipation!"

-==0==-

"Remind me to teach you how to heal with the Force," Fret said to Handmaiden, chuckling slightly.

"I will add that to the list," she replied, smiling.

The two of them, along with Mira and HK-47, were leaving the Mandalorian camp to work on some of the other honor-gaining activities Mandalore had tasked them with. Not long ago, Fret won his third match in the battle circle, against a war veteran named Tagren. It had been another hand-to-hand weaponless match, and while Fret came out on top, it wasn't the completely one-sided affair his previous matches had been. He was a weaponmaster, confident in wielding all manner of weapons, but hand-to-hand weaponless fighting was definitely not his forte. He'd started off the match in the same Echani fighting stance as against Davrel, but before it was over found himself shifting through a variety of styles. In the process he took quite a few hits himself, enough that he took a moment to Force Heal himself afterwards. Now they were leaving the camp because the sergeant running the battle circle declared it closed to the Jedi until he proved himself in the eyes of Kelborn and Bralor, the two champions of the Mandalorian camp.

The quartet settled into a comfortable silence, with Mira taking point slightly further ahead on the path. She did that in part because she was the best one suited for that in their group, and in part to give the other two a little space. As much as she joked about the Exile being her bounty, she truthfully didn't mind the thought of him and Handmaiden, who had surprisingly become her best friend on the _Ebon Hawk_. Not that they were 'best friends forever' close, but the two got along well despite their very different backgrounds, and generally enjoyed each other's company.

"Hey, Fret?" inquired Handmaiden tentatively as they made their way down the jungle path. He glanced over at her, not saying anything, just wordlessly prompting her to continue. "Thank you."

"What for?" he asked in confusion.

"The way you defended me back there, and how you honored me by fighting with Echani stances and even with my father's staff. It means more to me than you know."

"I-"

"You!" growled a nearby voice, interrupting them. "You finally arrive, Jedi! I seek to reclaim the honor you stole from me! I challenge you here, outside of the battle circle!"

Fret glanced wearily at Handmaiden before focusing his attention on Davrel and his three buddies standing several meters away. "'_Stole'_ implies I didn't win legitimately. Are you claiming I cheated somehow to win?"

The young Mandalorian sneered at him. "You got lucky. I won't underestimate you again."

"And what makes you think you're better off out here against my full arsenal, when you had me weaponless and without the Force back there and still couldn't touch me?"

Davrel acted as if the question didn't even register. "What little honor I had earned you stripped from me, Jedi. This, I will _not _allow!"

"Query: Shall I terminate this irritating meatbag, master?"

"Go home, kid," Fret said dismissively, turning to walk away from him. He didn't get more than a few steps before he felt a sharp pain in the back of his shoulder from a single blaster bolt hitting him. Grimacing, he turned back around.

"Now you will face a true Mandalorian on the field of battle!" declared Davrel smugly.

Fret glared darkly, he couldn't be bothered at that moment to explain to the young punk just how ridiculous that statement was. With a flick of his wrist the air around Davrel whipped into a whirlwind that propelled him up into the air and spinning out of control. While his opponent hung suspended above the ground helplessly, Fret ignited his double-bladed lightsaber and threw it at him, guiding it with the Force. The silver-bladed saberstaff decapitated the young Mandalorian, causing him to fall to the ground in two separate parts once the whirlwind died down. Calling his saber back to his hand, Fret deactivated it and stared at the remaining Mandalorians with an icy expression.

"Are we done here, or do you intend to throw your lives away as well?"

"Statement: Ready to initiate assassination protocols, master."

The Mandalorians glanced at each other, and even though he couldn't see the faces behind their helms, Fret could tell from their body language that they were nervous. "You may pass," one of them said finally, backing down from a confrontation.

As soon as they moved a little further ahead, Handmaiden stepped in front of Fret and put her hand on his chest, stopping him from proceeding. "Take off your robes," she said simply.

He was surprised by the request, but couldn't resist some good natured teasing. Shifting his expression from one of brief confusion to a sly grin, he asked, "So impressed with my performance back there that you can't resist taking me right here?"

She might have blushed if she felt he was doing anything more than teasing her. Instead, she opted to ignore the nature of the comment. "I want to examine where you were shot. You did not heal yourself afterwards."

"Ugh… don't remind me," he groaned, slipping the black robes off his shoulders. "I'm horrible with a needle and thread, it's going to take me _forever _to fix the hole."

Handmaiden looked him in the eyes with a stern expression. "Why do you make jokes about serious things? You know I speak of your wound and not your robes."

"I… I don't know, I've never really thought about it. I guess humor is my coping mechanism… it's how I'm managing to keep my sanity on this stupid moon amidst a bunch of Mandies."

"So, you make jokes to... relieve tension?" she asked, frowning at the wound and moving to retrieve a medkit from her equipment pack.

"Yeah… joking around and taunting the Mandies is just how I've been dealing with the frustration I've felt from being here and having to do a bunch of stupid stuff for them. And… having you here to talk to helps a lot too, I really appreciate that you've been here for me… even if I didn't exactly show it earlier when I went off on you."

This time Handmaiden did blush, though she felt fortunate that Fret couldn't see it because she was standing behind him dressing his wound. "I… I enjoy your company too, Fret," she admitted softly before finishing up with the medkit and pulling his robes back up over his shoulders.

-==0==-

The group hadn't progressed much further before they ran into Kelborn, one of the champions the battle circle sergeant had told them about. Kelborn informed them that he was scouting out a ship that had landed, and that if the Exile wanted to earn more honor he could assist. That was fine with Fret, maybe it would get them out of having to do the other things on their list anyway.

"So what do you make of this ship you're looking for?" Fret asked.

"This one was trying to slip in quietly; keeping its ion emissions to a minimum. Our sensors almost didn't pick it up. It's a larger ship than yours, could be a drop ship." Kelborn added, "I haven't actually found any sign of the ship yet, just this corpse." He pointed with his assault rifle at what appeared to be a fresh kill a couple of meters away.

"Whoever these visitors are, they don't know the terrain very well," Mira mused.

Kelborn nodded. "He can't have been the only one crawling around here though. If there's more, we need to take them out."

"What's the plan?" asked Fret.

Pointing ahead of them, Kelborn noted, "The path splits up ahead, then joins back up about a klick further down. You guys take one path and I'll take the other, and we'll meet on the other side and see where we're at."

Fret nodded. "HK, go with Kelborn. You come across anything, you've got permission to shoot first and ask questions later."

"Statement: Your orders will be carried out with utmost enthusiasm, master."

-==0==-

The trio of Mira, Handmaiden, and Fret emerged from the brush hanging over the path to find Kelborn and HK-47 already waiting for them.

"We heard blaster fire coming from deeper in the jungle," said Kelborn. "You find anything?"

Fret nodded. "A group of scouts, and then the captain of the ship and some lieutenants. We took care of them."

"We came across a couple of groups of scouts as well," Kelborn stated. "They weren't in the mood to talk either, not that your droid gave them much of a chance."

"Mocking query: Their dying screams were not enough 'talking' for you?" Kelborn chuckled in response.

"They mentioned something about a colonel," added Mira. "You know anything about that?"

"Could be Colonel Tobin, the personal kath hound of General Vaklu. If Vaklu is on your trail, you might want to steer clear of Onderon."

"Tobin is the one who opened fire on our ship and forced us to land here. Who is this General Vaklu, anyway?" Fret inquired.

"He's the cousin of Queen Talia and head of the Onderon military. He also led the Onderon resistance when we occupied their world during the Mandalorian Wars. He was a worthy foe, maybe more than a match for you."

Fret shrugged. "I've been underestimated my whole life. It never ends well for those that do."

Kelborn scoffed slightly. "Anyway, I'm heading back. Any chance you want to sell that droid of yours?"

"Cautionary Statement: Back off, meatbag. I am the most advanced assassin droid in the galaxy, not some common protocol model to be pawned off on a whim."

Fret laughed. "Sorry, Kelborn, HK isn't for sale."

"He certainly has spirit, I will give you that. Anyway, if you make it back to the camp maybe I'll see you in the battle circle."

"Tentative query: Would you have any interest in a T3 model?"

"_HK_…" Fret groaned, drawing laughs from Mira and Handmaiden.

-==0==-

The party hadn't made it very far towards the camp before they heard a loud guttural roar coming from down one of the side paths of the trail they were on. "Sounds large," Fret said, chuckling humorlessly.

"You think it is that zakkeg we were told about?" asked Handmaiden.

"Probably…" remarked Mira.

"Well, let's stop talking and get to the killing," Fret said matter-of-factly.

"Interjection: Master, this is one of the rare times when you make my behavioral module glow."

"I aim to please, HK, I aim to please."

Moving silently down the path, Mira was the first to spot the large red lizard-like creature. She crept back to the others, informing them of what she saw.

Fret nodded. "When we get to the clearing, everyone spread out. The guard said this thing has hide as tough as durasteel plating, so blasters will be questionable. HK, focus on headshot damage, see if you can take out its eyes first, then target other potential weak spots like the nose, throat, and ears. Mira, I'm thinking your rockets should work well here. Like HK, target the likely weak spots. Handmaiden, you'll need to use your lightsaber, I think your staff would only piss the thing off. Get your attacks in and then get back, both to avoid the zakkeg's attacks and to not be in the way of Mira and HK. I'll start off with Force lightning and see how well that works. I don't know if this thing is resistant to the Force or not. If not, I'll mix it up between Force powers and lightsaber attacks. Otherwise I'll basically be doing the same thing as Handmaiden. You guys ready?"

Seeing the nods of affirmation, Fret nodded back. "Let's go…"

-==0==-

Fret took off in a Force jump, catching the zakkeg off guard as he slammed down on it with his lightsaber. Back flipping out of the way of a razor sharp claw coming at him in retaliation, Fret immediately cast a burst of Force lightning at the beast. The crackling bolts sizzled across the surface of the zakkeg's hide, but didn't appear to do much beyond inciting it further.

An explosive rocket detonated on the large lizard's chest at the same time blaster bolts from HK-47's repeating blaster rifle rained in on its head. Handmaiden sped in while activating her lightsaber, slashing the beast with first one viridian blade and then the other before retreating.

The zakkeg roared at its unwelcome guests before charging Handmaiden. She dove out of the way, rolling to her feet and quickly back into a fighting stance. Another rocket exploded at its back, causing it to spin back around angrily. Fret, who had already been charging in for another saber attack, took the inadvertent tail whip in the ribs, knocking him from his feet and leaving him gasping for breath. Before the zakkeg could fully turn its attention to the fallen foe, it felt the heat of blaster fire peppering its head and howled in pain as one shot took off an ear. Fret took advantage of the momentary reprieve to heal himself with the Force and get out of harm's way.

The zakkeg charged the source of its largest amount of abuse, and the much less nimble HK-47 could not avoid being hit hard. He was sent sprawling, losing his rifle in the process. Mira fired another rocket, drawing the beast's attention. As the zakkeg charged towards Mira, Fret pushed a Force wave from the side, hoping to knock the lizard over. However, it shook off the attack as if it was little more than a stiff breeze, swiping a claw that caught the bounty hunter on the upper arm and tore open a large gash. Mira grunted painfully while backpedaling, trying to gain separation for another rocket launch. Handmaiden leaped up on its back and attempted to drive the end of her saber through the back of its neck. She managed to wedge the blade in, piercing the hide, but before she got very deep the zakkeg bucked and tossed her off. Handmaiden landed unceremoniously in a heap, scurrying to her feet and briefly grasping her now very sore left hip. She'd at least had the presence of mind to deactivate her lightsaber as she tumbled through the air, avoiding a self-inflicted wound from it swinging wildly. She scowled as she reactivated her saberstaff out in front of her, looking for an opening to reengage.

"Mira!" shouted Fret. "Target its legs with your rockets! Slow it down!"

Mira cut loose an explosive rocket that burst on contact with one of the beast's front legs, which was followed by Fret Force jumping to deliver a vicious blow with his lightsaber. The zakkeg turned to counter, swiping at Fret, but the weaponmaster swung his blade around and tore deep into the hide of the incoming clawed leg, eliciting another howl of pain. Another rocket slammed into the same limb that Fret had just wounded, and was followed by a precision shot from the assassin droid's rifle that claimed an eye. Not following his own orders about getting out of the way after attacking, Fret was caught in the concussive blast of the rocket and knocked to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, but was left momentarily disoriented from the explosion.

The zakkeg began to stagger under the cumulative damage, which had taken its toll on the beast. It roared and attempted to charge Mira one more time, but another rocket caused its front legs to finally give out. Handmaiden leapt onto its back one more time to try to impale the lizard with her saber, and held on as the zakkeg thrashed in an effort to shake off its assailant. Regaining his senses, Fret wiped the blood trickling from his nose off on his sleeve, then moved in to support Handmaiden. When the beast raised its head and attempted to stand one more time, Fret ran one of the silver blades from his lightsaber through the exposed flesh of its neck, mortally wounding it. From there the quartet made short work of finishing it off.

Sighing wearily after Force healing the organics in the group, Fret said, "Let's head back to the camp and check in with Mandalore before calling it a day. HK, grab that ear you shot off. That should be a good enough _trophy_ to show the Mandies as proof we took this thing down."


	6. Chapter 6

The quartet from the _Ebon Hawk_ finally made their way back into the Mandalorian camp, ignoring the murmurs of surprise as Fret tossed the zakkeg ear at the feet of the guard who had suggested they hunt it while at the same time implying it would be too much for them. There was a little more weariness in their steps than in their first visit earlier in the day, enough so that Fret wasn't in the mood to engage the Mandalorians in the camp in any more dialogue than necessary. For that reason alone, he resisted the urge to tell Xarga when he passed by about what an idiot Kumus had been to get trapped up on a ledge, and how Mira said he was damned lucky a cannok didn't blow him sky high by trying to eat the permacrete detonator Kumus had left hooked up right in the middle of the path.

"Ahhh, you're back!" said Mandalore smugly. "You've made quite a reputation around here. You did better than I thought you could."

Fret rolled his eyes. "It would take being truly incompetent to _not_ look good around here. Most of your men talk a much bigger game than they've actually got."

Mandalore scoffed. "Mock us now, but we are rebuilding and uniting the clans under my banner. The Mandalorians will once again hold the galaxy by the throat!"

Mira cleared her throat. "Anyway... are you saying we've proven our _worth_ enough to get to Onderon?" Fret smiled at her gratefully for steering the conversation back on track.

Shrugging, Mandalore replied, "I was planning to go to Iziz tomorrow. But I'll move up the timetable and take you now."

Fret raised his hand in front of him, shaking his head. "Thanks, but no. Tomorrow is fine. At this point we wouldn't reach Iziz before nightfall anyway, making it kind of pointless with the amount of running around we'll need to do there. We'll just head back to the _Ebon Hawk_ for the night, then meet you back here in the morning to go to Iziz."

Mandalore perked up at the mention of the _Ebon Hawk_, but chose not to say anything about it for now. Depending on how things went, there would be time for that later. "Suit yourself," he replied dismissively, turning his back on them to return to his attention to the monitors he was looking at before they arrived.

-==0==-

Fret was semi-lost in thought and didn't immediately hear the mocking of the Mandalorian sergeant when they passed the battle circle. He was snapped out of his stupor when he heard Handmaiden next to him shout out angrily.

"Why should he waste his time with those that war only for the sake of itself?"

"Do not presume to understand us, _Echani_!" He emphasized her race in a snide tone, as if that in and of itself was an insult.

"Did you need something?" Fret asked the sergeant in a disinterested tone.

"Jedi, you have earned enough honor to face a champion from a previous day. Will you face Kelborn in the battle circle?"

Fret paused. He was worn down from the lack of sleep and all the running around they'd done, and at this point he wanted nothing more than to get back to the ship and meditate for a bit before attempting sleep again. But he also knew there was an unspoken expectation for him to finish what he started.

"It's been a long day, guys, how about tomorrow?" he offered in a conciliatory tone.

"I knew it!" the sergeant exclaimed. "You strut around arrogantly against the less experienced, but cower at the prospect of facing a full Mandalorian!"

"Come now, Sarge," Kelborn chuckled. Smirking under his helmet, he continued, "The Jedi is _tired_. Not everyone has the endurance of a Mandalorian."

Mira and Handmaiden both looked at Fret to see how he would react. Handmaiden could tell by his expression that he was at war with himself inside, that he was trying not to allow himself to be goaded into fighting. She reached over and grasped his bicep through the sleeve of his robe, leaning in closely as she whispered, "You do not need to do this. You have _nothing_ to prove to them."

The sergeant continued, "Perhaps you are right, Kelborn. The Jedi could not have defeated us in war. It took a _fallen_ Jedi to do that. What is one broken exile against a full Mandalorian warrior?"

"Thanks for saying so," he replied softly to Handmaiden. "But… they've annoyed me enough to do it anyway."

Fret turned his full attention in the direction of the battle circle, beginning to walk slowly towards it. "I think time has rotted away what little brain capacity you might have once had." _"Wow, Kreia must be rubbing off on me, that's something she'd say,"_ he thought quickly to himself before continuing, "You've obviously forgotten what Jedi are capable of. Do you realize how many dead _full Mandalorians_ I left in my wake on my last visit to the Demon Moon?"

Tense silence hung in the air as all Mandalorian eyes were on Fret, while his gaze never faltered from the sergeant. He could practically feel the animosity mixed with grudging respect in their piercing stares.

"Statement: I do believe you've left the meatbags speechless, master."

Fret took in and exhaled a large breath. "Fine, I'll face Kelborn. Since you're convinced I'm so incapable, I assume I can use my lightsaber and the Force in this match?"

"Despite your high opinion of yourself, your honor is not _that_ great, Jedi," the sergeant answered snidely. "Kelborn, what are your terms?"

"Swords only. No items or the Jedi's Force, and no sword of the Jedi's choosing. Just a simple long blade."

Fret shrugged. "Single or dual-wield?" he asked.

Kelborn eyed the Exile carefully. "What is your preference?" he asked.

"Dual."

"Single-wield it is then," Kelborn answered, causing the other Mandalorians to laugh at the outmaneuvered Jedi.

"_Figures…"_ Fret thought.

-==0==-

Twirling the longsword in his right hand, Fret mentally scoffed at the lack of balance in the blade. He wasn't expecting to be given anything of quality to spar with, but this was little more than a slab of cheap steel welded inelegantly to a composite hilt wrapped haphazardly in grip tape. He also noticed the sword was quite top heavy, which would clearly compromise his speed in both attacking and defending. "_I'll have to adjust my tactics accordingly," _he thought, sighing in exasperation to himself. It also didn't go without notice that the sword his opponent wielded appeared to be much better maintained, and wasn't quite the 'simple long blade' that was presented in the terms of engagement. It was becoming comical to Fret just how far the Mandies were going in order to put him at a disadvantage in the battle circle. But he knew there was no use in objecting, all that would do is invite more ridicule. He'd just have to make the best of it.

Kelborn leapt forward while Fret's blade was still in motion, attempting to catch him off guard. However, the Jedi Exile calmly raised his blade to parry the chopping attack, then countered with a side kick to gain some separation before slashing back at the Mandalorian war vet. Kelborn dipped his sword to deflect the attack, but before the blades even collided Fret shifted his right foot forward and began to propel himself into the air. He took off and delivered a jumping side kick that Kelborn wasn't able to block in time. The kick connected squarely with his jaw, and protected by a helmet or not, he felt it.

Kelborn staggered backwards from the blow, but got his sword up to block the Jedi's next attack. Fret tried to press the offense while his opponent was recovering, but the combination of the ungainliness of the longsword and the Kelborn's skill made it a miscalculation. As Fret reengaged with what turned out to be a slower than normal looping thrust, Kelborn easily parried and then riposted into a reverse punch to the base of the Exile's throat. The force of impact from the fist encased in an armored glove nearly collapsed Fret's trachea, and left him gasping for breath. He resisted the urge to grasp his hurting throat, focusing instead on repelling the Mandalorian's follow up attack. However, he didn't get his sword into a defensive position fast enough, and Kelborn was rewarded with the cheers of his fellow Mandalorians when his slashing attack tore through the sleeve of his opponent's robe, scoring flesh and eliciting a choked grunt of pain. Fret managed to block a follow up backhand sweep, but Kelborn spun and executed a turning back kick that connected squarely with Fret's upper abdomen. The impact of the armored foot knocked him on his rear. He didn't lose his sword in the process, but he had to quickly roll to his side to avoid the heavy boot stomping down that was aimed at his chest. He couldn't avoid the chopping attack that came after that while still rolling. Kelborn's blade slashed deeply into the Exile's hip, and with it came even more cheers. Fret painfully scrambled to his feet, a disheveled dusty mess. He wiped his face on the torn sleeve of his robes while simultaneously falling back into a purely defensive stance.

It was then Kelborn's turn to miscalculate. Convinced of his superiority to the Jedi Exile and that he had the match under control, Kelborn stopped pressing his attack and instead opted to taunt his opponent for the amusement of his comrades and to embarrass the Exile in front of his companions.

"Perhaps you were wrong after all, Jedi. Perhaps we knew all along what you were _capable_ of. That without your magic tricks you're _nothing_ against a true Mandalorian."

"You tell him, Kelborn!" shouted one of the recruits watching the fight. "Put that Jedi in his place!" another yelled.

At first Fret thought he was imagining things, but even though he was doing nothing but standing there in a defensive stance trying to catch his breath and determine his next action, it was as if he could feel himself becoming noticeably stronger and more confident. He couldn't explain it, but he also couldn't deny it.

"You should've finished me off when you had the chance," Fret muttered hoarsely, his throbbing throat producing a raspy tone.

The Mandalorian veteran snorted derisively before lunging forward to resume his attack. With a speed that surprised Kelborn, the Exile parried the thrust while spinning away. Kelborn's blade was deflected in towards his body, exposing the right side of his body to a vicious slash that found the seam between the joints of his armor. Fret wasn't satisfied with exacting his own pound of flesh in retaliation, but immediately spun the opposite direction and landed a chop on Kelborn's opposite side when his opponent moved to cover up the side that was wounded a moment before. The Mandalorian grimaced, but refused to show his pain.

-==0==-

"Handmaiden, something wrong?" Mira asked with a touch of concern in her voice. One moment, Handmaiden had been standing next to her, watching the match in the battle circle. The next moment, she was shakily sitting down, looking slightly nauseous.

"I… I do not know. Suddenly I feel so... tired..." Retrieving the water pouch from her equipment pack, she closed her eyes and took a few slow drinks as she waited for the feeling to pass.

-==0==-

Fret attacked aggressively, with renewed vigor, not giving his opponent the opportunity to initiate his own offense. Kelborn was tough, a battle hardened warrior, and he defended and countered ferociously. But now he found himself unable to penetrate the Jedi's defenses, and he was struggling to maintain his own against his determined opponent. He managed to hold off the Exile for a little while, but despite the clunky blade he wielded, Fret proved to be the superior warrior and eventually broke Kelborn down. The Exile finished him off not in one big flourish, but rather in a series of fast precision strikes that overwhelmed Kelborn's defenses and left him with several cuts and gashes. With his strength sapping and being increasingly unable to parry the Jedi's attacks, Kelborn lowered his blade and conceded the match. This was after all, the battle circle, and not a death match.

"The… Jedi… is the… clear and honorable victor," stated the sergeant humbly, uttering the words he never expected to have to say. He was in as much shock as anyone that the Jedi Exile had defeated Kelborn. "I… underestimated you. A difficult admission for a Mandalorian."

Kelborn nodded, walking over and offering Fret a conciliatory handshake. "I see now why we couldn't win against you during the war. Even at a great disadvantage, you still fight as brutally as a rancor. I was wrong about you, Jedi. You are indeed a warrior of merit."

-==0==-

After healing himself with the Force, Fret left the battle circle and returned to his companions. Handmaiden smiled weakly at him. "Congratulations on pulling that one out," she said.

He cocked his head to the side curiously. "You doing okay? You look like you aren't feeling well."

She shook her head, standing up somewhat tentatively. "It is nothing, I just felt a little tired and lightheaded for a bit. I am okay now."

Fret frowned. "It just came on suddenly, without warning?"

Handmaiden nodded. "I am sure it is just from all of the running around we have done today in this oppressive heat, and I have not had much to eat or drink. It is probably just dehydration. I drank some water while I was sitting here though, and I feel better now."

The Mandalorian sergeant approached while Fret was talking to Handmaiden and Mira. "Jedi, you have earned enough honor to face Bralor, the current champion of our camp. This would be the last match of the day, do you wish to accept?"

Fret sighed. "Do I get screwed over on the terms again?"

"Bralor!" shouted the sergeant. "What are your terms?"

Bralor stalked forward. "No terms today, Sarge. I would fight the Jedi with his entire arsenal."

Fret's eyes gleamed at the prospect, but almost immediately he remembered his concern for Handmaiden and questioned if they should go back to the ship right away instead. He turned and looked at her.

Handmaiden laughed lightly. "I am fine, Fret, really. Go on." She smiled warmly at him, touched that his first concern had been for her health and not himself.

"We eagerly look forward to this fight," declared the sergeant. Sure enough, nearly everyone in the camp had stopped whatever they were doing and gathered near the battle circle. Word had gotten around about how the Jedi had defeated everyone he'd been matched against, but now he was facing Bralor and they were sure it would be a different outcome this time.

-==0==-

The match was over quickly. With his Force powers and lightsaber at his disposal, Fret made short work of the Mandalorian champion, who had opted to fight unarmed. The Exile immediately augmented his speed with the Force, threw a Force Wave that knocked Bralor down and stunned him, then used the Force to jump all the way across the battle circle and crash down hard on his opponent with his lightsaber. Bralor gallantly tried to fight back, but Fret was far too fast and too powerful. He came at the Mandalorian seemingly in waves, flowing effortlessly in his movements. Fret wasn't even blocking Bralor's attacks, he just simply wasn't there when a kick or punch from the big warrior reached its intended destination. Bralor didn't have long to get frustrated with his attacks catching nothing but air though. After ducking a kick aimed at his head and splitting open Bralor's chest plate with his lightsaber, Fret ended the match with an impressive blast of Force Lightning that dropped his opponent in a sizzling heap.

Bralor groaned painfully as he sat up, hearing the sergeant declare the Jedi the victor. The gathering of Mandalorians around the battle circle quickly and quietly dispersed, without much commentary taking place. Witnessing their champion be completely dismantled by the Jedi was humbling to even the most brash Mandalorian present. Fret didn't bother saying goodbye to anyone, he and his companions gathered their things and made for the camp exit.


	7. Chapter 7

Leaving the Mandalorian camp, Fret shook his head while looking at the sky. It was approaching dusk, and the ominous cloud cover over the darkening skies suggested they weren't going to be dry by the time they reached their ship.

"What do you think?" he asked, nodding to the Mandalorian guide with them, "Think we'll get more than halfway there before the skies open up on us?"

The guide chuckled. "If we're lucky. Storms come up quickly and violently on the Demon Moon. Sometimes you just have to find cover and wait it out."

By the time the quintet reached the halfway point, it had started raining lightly. Fret was torn about what to do. There were two easy things he'd wanted to do on the way back just because they wouldn't take long and they were on the way, but he also didn't want them stuck in the jungle at night in a storm. Mira noticed the consternation in his expression and asked what was up. After he explained, she asked, "Why do we need to check out the weapons cache still? We've already got our ticket punched for Iziz."

"True, but Mandalore mentioned that the cache was left by the last Mandalore during the war, during the fighting here on Dxun. If that's the case, it could have some pretty interesting stuff in it, possibly even Jedi equipment."

Handmaiden raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "You mean, like, lightsabers? Why would Mandalorians store weapons of the Jedi in one of their caches?"

The Mandalorian guide spoke up. "To prevent the remaining Jedi from recovering them," he said matter-of-factly. He was suspicious as to the Jedi's intentions, but held his tongue.

"Right," Fret agreed solemnly. "More than 100 Jedi fought in the battles on this moon. Less than half saw the end of it. Mandalorians are practical. They wouldn't have taken robes, lightsabers, and so on from Jedi that fell in battle for trophies, but they _would_ take them in order to keep them out of the hands of other Jedi. If there _are _things like that in the cache, I suspect Mandalore would be open to selling or bartering them to us."

Mira and Handmaiden nodded in understanding.

"Well… to speed things up," Mira suggested, "Why don't you and Handmaiden go check the weapons cache while I take _Kill Happy_ and Mandy here to check out the crash site?"

"Statement: If an upgraded assault rifle happened to find its way back with you, master, I would be most appreciative."

"Mira, I don't know if that's a good idea," began Fret while nodding at HK-47 in response to his request.

Mira countered. "Look, it'll get us all back to the _Ebon Hawk_ faster this way, and neither task should require all of us."

Handmaiden nodded. "And with it beginning to rain," she pointed out, "we probably will not be able to do both and still reach the ship before dark without splitting up."

Fret took a deep breath and exhaled. He didn't like the idea of splitting up, but he couldn't find fault with their reasoning. "Alright, we'll go with Mira's plan. Mira, you guys don't linger too long at the crash site. If it looks like it's going to get too dark on you before you finish, just abort and return to the ship. Call Atton on the com link if you need him to relay a message to us."

"Sure thing, _dad_," replied Mira sarcastically. "Same goes for you, and no keeping her out past curfew or you're in _big_ trouble, mister."

"Yes, _mother_," he replied, laughing. "Kreia already gave me that lecture anyway, so you don't need to warn me about behaving myself with her or anything."

"Wh-what?" asked Handmaiden incredulously. "What did Kreia say?"

Fret's smile faltered, he hadn't actually intended to tell her about that. "Well… uhh… yeah… can we change the subject now?" he asked in embarrassment. Mira cackled gleefully at his appearing so uncomfortable.

The Mandalorian guide sighed in exasperation. "If the idea to split up was to keep from wasting time, we're not really accomplishing that."

Seizing the opportunity, Fret exclaimed, "Yeah! What he said! Let's go, Handmaiden." Mira was still laughing even as they disappeared from sight down the path.

-==0==-

Just as the pair reached the permacrete detonator that had already been setup at the weapons cache, the sky opened up. "Of course!" shouted Fret in aggravation, causing Handmaiden to sigh. She wasn't happy with the downpour of rain either, but she wished his mood wouldn't match the dreariness of it. The Exile was generally upbeat and positive even in tough situations, and she wanted his temperament to get back to normal. And though he hadn't outright said it, she strongly suspected that where they were had a lot to do with his sleeping problems as well. She wanted to help him, but was unsure of how close on a personal level Fret would think it appropriate for her to be. _"Hopefully once we are off Dxun he will be himself again,"_ she thought.

"Hit the detonator and let's go!" Handmaiden shouted back over the growing din of the storm.

Fret pressed the plunger on the permacrete detonator, causing an explosion much louder than the storm in front of a pair of durasteel plated doors nearby. The explosion blew the doors off of the medium sized single-room cache built into the side of the hill.

"Get inside!" shouted Fret.

As they moved towards the now open weapon cache, the pair suddenly heard multiple loud roars from nearby beasts.

"I don't like the sound of that!" Handmaiden yelled. "I think we have just stirred up a mynock nest!"

Sure enough, charging in from around the side of the ridge was a pack of bomas, large beasts that were higher up on the food chain than the cannoks and maalraas. Fret counted five, but couldn't be sure there weren't more. Drawing his lightsaber on the run, he Force jumped, executing a graceful flip while activating his saberstaff and coming down hard on the boma at the front of the pack. Handmaiden shook her head slightly as she drew her own double-bladed lightsaber and ran towards the enemies. _"That Force jump thing is definitely going on the list of things for him to teach me…"_

The bomas were a challenge to fight, especially in the driving downpour, and Fret and Handmaiden didn't come out unscathed in the fighting. The pair of Force users eventually prevailed over the beasts, then wearily made their way inside the shelter of the weapons cache.

-==0==-

"You okay?" Fret asked Handmaiden after he activated the emergency lighting inside, revealing a dimly lit medium sized room with a multitude of plasteel containers surrounded by mines and deactivated combat droids.

"Other than being soaked to the bone and wounded? Yes," she replied with a smirk.

Fret grinned at her playfulness. "Here, let's sit down and I'll see if I can teach you the basic Force healing technique. It's one of the most useful skills you can have."

-==0==-

A short time later, Handmaiden succeeded in healing a couple of the minor nicks both of them had taken during the fighting with the bomas. Her Force power didn't heal as much damage as Fret's, but that was to be expected. He was more impressed that she'd caught on so fast and had been successful at all. It wasn't unusual for padawans to take many training sessions to see even the smallest of results.

Handmaiden touched her temples with her fingertips, rubbing them gingerly.

"Drawing on the Force takes a lot out of you at first," he noted, knowing what she was feeling. "As you get stronger though, you'll be able to do more and more with the Force with much greater endurance. After awhile you'll be able to do stuff like a basic heal without it taking hardly anything out of you."

"Would you mind handing me my water pouch, please?" She closed her eyes, waiting for the dizziness to pass.

Fret did so, and waited patiently for her to recover.

After a few minutes, she opened her eyes and smiled weakly. "I do not think it was just the Force though. I must need food or something, because I felt the same just now as I did earlier back at the camp."

"Well, let me grab some ration bars from my pack. It won't do to have you die on me from lack of nutrition," he joked, standing up to go the equipment pack he set down after they entered the cache. As he was returning to sit down, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Hey, wait… you said you felt the same way back at the camp?"

Handmaiden nodded, causing Fret's expression to suddenly turn serious.

"That was during my match with Kelborn," he stated. "Tell me _exactly_ when that feeling came over you."

She thought back. "I… I remember you had been wounded, and the crowd was cheering the Mandalorian on."

Fret thought back on that moment, and his eyes widened. "Tell me _exactly_ what you were thinking at that moment."

Handmaiden shyly averted her eyes from his as she explained. "I was thinking… that I did not like seeing you hurt, and I was angry that you were being made to fight with an obviously substandard weapon. I remember thinking how much I believed in you and that it wasn't fair how you were being treated. And… knowing you were fatigued, I wished for you to find the strength inside to overcome it and defeat him."

As she spoke, Fret's expression changed to shock.

"What?" Handmaiden asked. "You find it so surprising that I care enough for you to think such thoughts?"

Fret shook his head. "That's not it. It's just… wow… I can't believe this…"

"Believe _what_?"

Looking intently at her, Fret answered, "What you're describing… when that was going on… I was hurt, and I remember that suddenly, for seemingly no reason, I began to feel stronger and more confident, like I caught a second wind or something. Handmaiden… I think you used a very powerful and rare Force ability called _Battle Meditation_ without even realizing it. It's a power that lets you lend strength to and inspire allies, and also to demoralize enemies."

Handmaiden gasped. "How would that have happened? It isn't something I've been taught."

"I don't know. Heck, battle meditation isn't even something I can do. Very few Jedi in history have had that ability. Maybe your mother was one of them? Kreia might know, or Atris."

"That is… amazing."

Fret nodded. "You ain't kidding! And how fast you picked up Force Heal? Handmaiden… you're going to be a very powerful Force user if you work at it. You'll be a much better Jedi than I ever was," he laughed.

Laughing, Handmaiden replied, "There is no way I could be a better Jedi than you!"

"Don't be so sure, you heard Master Vrook on that holovid back on Dantooine. I was a pretty mediocre Jedi."

"Well, I was a mediocre handmaiden compared to my sisters, so I guess we are even."

Fret grinned. "Mediocre? Nah, you put them all to shame."

"Nice try at flattery, but it is not true. I was always criticized for the lack of control over my emotions, for having too much passion in my fighting stances."

"Emotion and passion are useful, and can be an asset as long as you _can_ control them. That's one of the reasons I wasn't a very good Jedi, I never really bought completely into in the whole '_there is no emotion'_ part of the code. The masters always warned that emotion and passion led to the dark side, but I think that's only true if you allow them to control you."

"So you do not think it is most desirable to clear your head of all emotion in battle? Mistress taught us that our emotions hinder our fighting ability."

Fret sighed. "I'm going to put this delicately because I know Atris means a lot to you, but… she was a chronicler, she never fought in a single battle in her life. Granted she _is_ a master, but her knowledge of battle is theoretical, datapad stuff. She's never had to stare down someone intent on killing her."

Handmaiden contemplated this. "I can find no fault in your words," she admitted.

"Let me illustrate it like this… when you and I first sparred, who won?"

"I did."

"Do you believe I took it easy on you or let you win?"

"No…"

"Okay, so when I sparred all five of your sisters at once, who won?"

"You did," she said softly, seeing now where he was going with this.

"Handmaiden, you are _much_ more than your sisters ever will be. They may have ridiculed you and called you the last of them, but to me you are second to none. I wouldn't have it any other way than having you with me on this mission."

Handmaiden gulped, unable to stop herself from blushing at his high praise. "Thank you, it means a lot to me for you to say so."

Sensing she felt a little awkward after what he said, Fret stood up and walked toward the door, observing the storm outside for a few moments.

"Unfortunately, I don't think the storm is going to break anytime soon, and now that it's getting dark I think it's going to be a dangerous trek back to the ship."

Handmaiden agreed. "We will need to stay here for the night and make our way back in the morning."

"I was thinking that, but didn't want to suggest it," he admitted.

"Why not?"

He thought to himself, _"Because I didn't know how you'd feel about being stuck alone with me overnight,"_ but decided to answer by kidding around. "Well… you know… Mira said I'd be in big trouble if I didn't get you home on time and all. She might try to cash in that bounty on me after all."

She looked at him carefully, reading much more in his golden-green eyes than he realized he was communicating. "You are joking about something serious again, aren't you?"

He glanced back at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

She approached him, placing her hand on his still soaked chest while never breaking eye contact. "You are bothered by being alone with me out here. Why?"

Fret's eyes grew at her implication. "Handmaiden, _no_…" he began, shaking his head. "It was actually the other way around. I was worried that _you_ would be uncomfortable being with _me_."

"Have I said anything to make you think that?"

"Well… no."

"Then why would you think that?"

"I… I guess…"

"_Fret! Are you out there? Come in,"_ came Atton's voice over the com link, interrupting Fret's awkward explanation.

"Yeah, Atton, I'm here," replied Fret, grateful for the reprieve from the previous conversation. "What's up?"

"_Mira checked in, said she ran into our buddies the Zhug brothers at the crash site."_

"What? Does she need help?" Fret asked in concern.

"_Nah, she said she and HK-47 and their Mandalorian friend took care of them and they're on their way back now. Since it's raining hard they're hoofing it back double-time, so it should only be a few minutes until they get here. What's your status?"_

"Well…" he began, "We're holed up the in the weapons cache. We took a beating from a pack of bomas we riled up after blowing the doors off this place. With that and the weather and darkness, we're just going to stay here until morning."

"_Uh huh…"_ replied Atton. It was impossible to miss the mirth in his tone. Not realizing that Handmaiden could hear what he was saying, he asked Fret, _"How'd you talk your way into that one, buddy?"_

Handmaiden raised an eyebrow quizzically at Fret, wondering why Atton would ask him such a question. Fret fidgeted in response to her questioning look, making her even more curious.

"Atton, she's standing right here, you know?"

Atton laughed. _"Oh, so you mean now isn't the time to remind you what Kreia said about charging up her loading ramp?"_

Handmaiden's eyes opened wide in shock, and Fret wanted to find a hole to crawl into. His cheeks burned, flushed with embarrassment. _"Why did I ever tell Atton that Kreia lectured me first about mating with Visas and then about Handmaiden?"_ he thought to himself, closing his eyes while folding his arms and pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"You realize you're a dead man, right?" Fret asked, turning his back to Handmaiden to avoid her stare.

"_Well, that's gonna happen sooner or later anyway, following YOU around. Might as well make it interesting!"_

"Anyway… let the others know that we're fine and that we'll be back in the morning."

"_No problem. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."_

"Is there actually anything you wouldn't do?" Fret asked sarcastically.

Atton laughed gleefully. _"Good point. See ya in the morning, boss!"_ he said before cutting the com link.

Fret sighed. He really didn't want to turn back around and face Handmaiden, but he knew full well there was no avoiding it. He paused long enough to compose himself, then slowly began to turn to face her.


	8. Chapter 8

Fret turned around with a sense of dread, not at all excited about the prospect of having to explain to Handmaiden what Atton was talking about. He did a double-take, however, when he saw she was in the process of undressing.

Glancing over at him, she preempted his question by explaining, "Since it is decided that we will stay here, we should hang up our wet clothes to dry."

Nodding, he began to remove his robes as well. After stripping down to his underwear and hanging up his clothes, he turned around and his breath caught at the sight of Handmaiden, who had gone completely topless. His mind flashed back suddenly to a time in his past, and he shook his head, as if the actual act of physically shaking his head would clear the vision. He blushed furiously and averted his gaze from Handmaiden's body. "S-sorry," he whispered hoarsely.

It hadn't gone unnoticed to Handmaiden that his eyes were distant briefly, as if he was suddenly somewhere else in his mind. The look in his eye gave her a strong feeling he was thinking of someone else.

"Sorry…" he repeated. "I've only seen one woman undressed before, you startled me is all."

After a minute went by without him saying anything else, she glanced back over at him tentatively. "Who was she?" she asked softly, putting her bra back on after wringing it out.

Fret paused momentarily. "It was… Atris."

Handmaiden gasped. "Wh-what?"

Fret burst out laughing. "No, not really. I just couldn't resist."

She glared at him in response. "That was not nice!" she exclaimed, scolding him. "You can be so frustrating!"

His expression turned more pensive, and he ran his hand through his hair, exhaling audibly. "No, the truth is far less scandalous, or interesting for that matter." He sighed. "It wasn't long after I was exiled. I was bouncing around from port to port out past the outer rim, trying to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life and all. Anyway, at one of my stops I was killing time in a cantina, wallowing a bit I'm sure, when a lady sat down next to me at the bar and started chatting me up. After having a bit too much to drink, one thing led to another and I ended up back at her hotel room."

Handmaiden frowned slightly, but nodded.

"Anyway, she'd gotten me completely undressed and I had her top off, and then the next thing I knew I had a hold-out blaster in my ear and was being told that if I made a sound it'd be my last."

Handmaiden's eyes grew wide at the sudden turn of events. It wasn't what she was expecting.

"Turned out it was her partner and… I was just another in a long string of shakedowns. They cleaned me out and left. That's when it really hit home how far I'd fallen, from Jedi and Republic general to an easy mark for a couple of con artists to prey upon. Anyway, that's the entire sordid tale of my love life…epic, eh?" Afterwards he grinned slightly.

She knew without a doubt that he was trying to mask his feelings behind humor, but decided not to push him on it. "Well, at least you won't have to worry about _me_ robbing you and leaving you behind," she replied, winking playfully at him.

He looked surprised that she would joke with him like that, but then started chuckling. "Yeah, well, just don't go telling Atris that I claimed to have seen her naked. She might do more than just exile me again."

This time Handmaiden laughed sincerely at the thought of Atris' expression if she told her that.

After a brief silence, Fret softly said, "Can I ask you something?"

"You may ask."

"You don't need to give me an answer right now, but I'd like you to at least promise to consider what I'm going to ask you."

She nodded tentatively, unsure of where he was going with this.

"I feel like things have changed a lot between us since the last time I asked this… I'd like you to reconsider telling me your name. I mean… your real name. I know it isn't something you'd want everyone to know, so I'd promise to only use it when you and I were alone."

Handmaiden bit her bottom lip. "I… it is something I need to think about. I will consider your request."

Nodding, Fret smiled. "Don't feel pressured about it or anything. If you decide it is still important to keep it private, I'll accept that."

She smiled in return. "Thank you, Fret. I do promise to think about it though."

-==0==-

The conversation shifted to the contents of the weapons cache. After finding the foreman droid and initiating its cleanup protocols to remove the mines surrounding the containers, they deactivated the droid and began investigating the containers. Fret was disappointed that they only found a couple of intact lightsabers, a handful of crystals, and some parts in one of the bins, but his eyes lit up at finding a stash of Mandalorian rippers. They weren't the most powerful blasters in terms of raw damage, but they were extremely effective disruptor pistols that cut through personal shields, and were easily modded with a variety of upgrades. They were outlawed on every planet in Republic space for good reason. Fret didn't fight with blasters all that often, but he always carried the modded Zabrak blaster that Bao-Dur had given him on their way from Telos to Nar Shadaa. A pair of rippers would be a nice upgrade over that. In the end, their equipment packs had added to them the lightsabers and related items, six Mandalorian rippers, and two Mandalorian disintegrator pistols. Each of them also grabbed a pair of Mandalorian assault rifles.

"You'd better not let me forget to pay Mandalore for all this stuff when we see him tomorrow," Fret joked.

Handmaiden laughed. "Do you also want me to tell him that you cheated to become the battle circle champion?" she asked with a devious grin.

"Wh-what? How did I cheat?" he asked incredulously.

She poked him in the arm, still grinning. "The terms of the match with Kelborn were no use of the Force, cheater."

"Hey now! I think the terms were only that _I _couldn't use the Force. Surely it's some kind of legal loophole that _you_ used the Force on my behalf, right? Especially seeing how neither one of us even knew it happened?"

Handmaiden laughed again. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, cheater."

"If I'm a cheater, I guess that makes you my accomplice then, huh? Oh, no! Dark side here we come!" he exclaimed in mock excitement. The two laughed easily together, enjoying the lighthearted moment after such a stressful day.

-==0==-

After finishing their _shopping_, Fret and Handmaiden sat back down. "So what do you want to do now with all the time left to kill?" he asked, grinning. "Want another lesson in the Force?"

She smiled before looking away briefly, trying to decide the best way to broach the subject she really wanted to talk about. She couldn't think of a delicate way to bring it up though, and finally decided to just ask.

"Fret? Can I ask you a question?" After he nodded, she continued, "Why was Kreia talking to you about how you should… mmm… _behave_ around me?"

Fret winced. This was _not_ the question he was expecting or wanting. He looked down, sighing, unsure of how to answer. When he didn't reply after a minute or so, she added, "Forgive me for being so forward, but I admit that my curiosity has gotten the better of me."

Sighing again, Fret closed his eyes and shook his head. Looking up, he reopened his eyes and Handmaiden couldn't help but notice the emotion he was fighting to suppress.

"I guess the first thing you should know is that Kreia constantly warns me about _anything_ she thinks would distract me from her agenda, which is tied up in the mission. Admittedly I don't know exactly what that agenda is, but she is very adamant about me not investing myself in my friends beyond what is necessary to keep them loyal to me. She thinks that I should view you all as tools or whatever… things I need to use to help me complete the mission and nothing more. Hopefully it goes without saying that I don't share her views on that subject. Now, I know you don't like or even trust Visas, but I swear the first discussion I had with Kreia about her began with her telling me not to _mate_ with the miraluka. I mean, good grief, that couldn't have been more than an hour after I'd agreed to let Visas join the crew and the thought hadn't even crossed my mind, yet she was already getting on me about it. Was it just because I'd showed Visas some compassion? I don't know…"

Handmaiden frowned slightly, wondering why Kreia would feel the need to advise him about relations with the Sith, and if the old woman had sensed feelings in Fret regarding Visas. But at the same time, she believed what he said.

Fret sighed once again before continuing. "With _you_… I also don't know exactly, it almost seems like it's personal to Kreia for some reason, but she refuses to explain why. Maybe because there's actually something there, I don't know…"

"What do you mean by 'there's actually something there'?"

He paused briefly, collecting his thoughts, because he realized to answer her question honestly he was going to reveal his feelings. "Through our bond Kreia can get a sense of my feelings and emotions on a subject, my Force aura, or signature if you will. So by asking leading questions or making certain statements and probing my aura, she can obtain my true feelings about whatever, regardless of what I actually say. And I used to not be so good about shielding my thoughts, so I know she's outright read my mind at times. I guess what I'm avoiding saying is… she knows I care for you, and for some reason that bothers her. I think it's why she didn't say hardly anything about me training Atton in the Force, but she cautioned me against training you."

"But you care for others too, would she object if you were to train Bao-Dur?"

Fret couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of that statement. "You misunderstand. She knows I _care_ for you…" He emphasized 'care' both with his tone of voice and with his eyes, and she gulped in realization of his meaning. "Maybe part of it is that she fears if we get closer and you gain even more influence with me, she'll lose influence and it could potentially affect whatever she's got planned."

"Do you think it has anything to do with how Jedi are not supposed to love?"

"Nah, definitely not that. Kreia doesn't care about the Jedi code any more than she cares about the Sith code. To her the Force is the Force, without regard to philosophies. Having served Atris I'm surprised you'd think of that anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Atris was actually the one that taught me that the Jedi Order hasn't always had the regulations against forming attachments and marriage. Many of the greatest Jedi before the Great Sith War, like Nomi Sunrider, married. For some reason it was important to her for me to understand that."

Handmaiden raised an eyebrow quizzically, causing Fret to chuckle. "Hey, believe it or not, before the war Atris and I were actually really good friends. Of the masters, she was probably my biggest supporter, even more so than my own master. I think that's why she hates me so passionately now, she feels like I betrayed her personally in going off to join the war."

Nodding in understanding, Handmaiden asked, "How will Kreia react when she finds out you have told me this?"

Fret shrugged. "Well, ever since Atton taught me to play Pazaak in my head as a way of shielding my thoughts, I don't think she's been able to get much out of me like she did before. And since she hardly comes out of her room, I'm guessing it'll be awhile before I have to hear another lecture on… yeah…"

Handmaiden blushed again, remembering the crude phrase Atton used in describing it. Fret chuckled softly in response. "I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable. But then again, you _did_ ask the question. Anyway, to be honest… I'm far more concerned with what _you _think about what I said than what Kreia thinks." Grinning slightly, he added, "Your expression has been maddeningly neutral, and your questions and comments haven't revealed anything."

"Fret…" she replied softly, her voice barely above a whisper, "if it was not obvious from Mira's teasing earlier or my own reactions around you, I care for you too. I have tried to suppress it for some time now, not knowing how you would feel if you knew, if you would find it inappropriate or unwelcome. I... I was not expecting to have this all out in the open all of a sudden, I admit it is a bit overwhelming."

Fret nodded, smiling gently.

Handmaiden glanced back up at him. "So… where do we go from here?" she asked tentatively.

"I can't say I have any more experience with this than you do. I guess… I don't want you to feel pressured to do or not do anything in particular. Heck, is a more… _personal_ relationship with me even something you want?"

"I do not understand why you would ask that after what I said. Why wouldn't I?" she asked in a mildly defensive tone.

Fret raised his hands in front of him. "Hey, I'm not trying to discourage you, _trust _me. You've admitted that you care for me, but I can't tell if you think that's a _good_ thing… or if you're feeling overwhelmed because you're conflicted about it. I just… I just want to make sure that _you _think it's the right thing to do and aren't just going along with it to keep from hurting my feelings or because it's what I want and you feel obligated."

"Fret…" she replied in a gentle tone, her voice cracking with emotion, "Please do not think I am conflicted. It is overwhelming because… becoming your padawan one night and your love the next? These are the two things I have most desired… to fight alongside you the way my mother did with my father. It _is_ overwhelming. But yes… it is a good thing... a _great _thing."

She smiled warmly, a smile he eagerly returned as he scooted over next to her, putting his arm around her and pulling her into an embrace. The new couple contented themselves with the simple pleasure received just from holding their loved one and feeling their bond grow closer as they basked in even greater acceptance of each other. Eventually, however, the combination of a lack of sleep and the long day caught up with both of them.

"Hey…" Fret whispered quietly, "Since we can't close the doors, it isn't safe for us both to sleep at the same time. You go ahead and go to sleep and I'll keep watch."

"But what about you?" Handmaiden protested. "You need sleep even more than I do."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." She glared at him in response.

"Okay, okay," he said, admitting defeat, "If it'll make you feel better, we'll trade out. I'll wake you up in about four hours? That should give me about the same amount of rest time before daybreak."

Nodding with a smirk, she replied, "Don't even think about _forgetting_ to wake me up." Wadding up a small tarp into a makeshift pillow, Handmaiden propped herself up between a couple of plasteel containers and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before she was fast asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Handmaiden awoke not to the gentle prodding from Fret that she had expected, but rather to the sounds of combat coming from outside the cache. She could hear the hum of Fret's lightsaber, the growling of beasts, the _whoosh_ of a lot of air being moved, presumably from his Force Wave ability. She leapt to her feet, scrambling to retrieve her own lightsaber. Moving to the door, she impatiently willed her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the starless night outside so she could see what was going on before jumping into the fray. Her vision came into focus just in time to see Fret dispatch what appeared to be the last of a pack of maalraas. By her count he had slain six of them.

As Fret deactivated his saber and began walking back towards the cache, she noticed he had several cuts on his legs and arms but didn't appear to have suffered any serious injuries. Her instinct was to scold him for recklessly putting himself at additional risk by not waking her up to help, but another thought came to mind. Handmaiden knew she didn't have as well-developed a sense of humor as others on the crew, but even _she_ couldn't let this one go by.

Leaning against the frame of the door way, she waved her hand dismissively at the approaching weaponmaster, mimicking his voice as she said, "Do you think you could put some clothes on? Because, you know, when you're in battle you won't be fighting in your underwear. So you really need to learn to fight when you're more encumbered."

Fret's jaw dropped in shock at Handmaiden's joke before his expression changed to a huge lopsided grin. She burst out laughing in response, causing him to start laughing along with her.

"Yeah, well, I can't say I ever expected _that_ particular lesson to get thrown back in my face," he said. Winking, he added, "I have to say though, it felt kind of liberating not having a bulky robe on. Maybe you were on to something with the whole fighting in your underwear thing after all!"

Grinning, Handmaiden replied, "I would say I am tempted not to heal you for that remark, but that does not carry much weight when you can simply do it yourself."

Fret raised an eyebrow curiously. "I hadn't thought of that, would you like to try the Force heal again?"

She nodded. "Practice is the only way I will improve."

"Let's go back inside then."

-==0==-

It didn't take Handmaiden as long this time to succeed in manipulating the Force to do her bidding. The results were even better than before, with her being able to heal the majority of his cuts before her Force energy ran out. She still felt quite drained immediately afterwards, but was pleased to see that her recovery time shortened as well. Fret beamed in pride at his student, incredibly impressed at what she'd been able to accomplish in such a short time.

Handmaiden sat down and leaned back against the wall across from the door so she could take up her watch shift. "I've recovered enough," she explained, "you can go on to sleep and I'll be alright. I'll wake you up if something comes up I need help with."

Fret took up the spot where Handmaiden had slept earlier. But unlike her, he didn't fall asleep within minutes. After half an hour of not being able to shut his mind down, he sighed and opened his eyes and sat fully upright.

"What is wrong?" asked Handmaiden, noticing him move.

"Can't sleep…"

"How can you possibly not be able to sleep? You are exhausted!"

"I know… but there's something about this moon and my connection to it. It's like there's this constant buzz or itch inside my mind that I can't make go away. I guess… I guess I'll just meditate for a bit," he sighed.

Handmaiden frowned. "Come here," she said, gesturing to the spot on the floor next to her. Fret gave her a questioning look, but complied.

"Lay down," she continued as he sat down next to her. "Just rest your head here in my lap and close your eyes," she whispered. Fret gulped slightly at the prospect of lying his head down and using her bare thigh as a pillow, still adjusting mentally to their new relationship. But she'd told him to and the idea wasn't at all unpleasant, so he did what she asked. He lay there with his eyes closed, not expecting it to be any different than before, but at least he was more comfortable. Handmaiden ran her fingers through his hair and over his face, gently massaging the skin.

"_I could get used to this,"_ he thought, smiling contently.

-==0==-

"_You still out there, chief?"_ a voice came over the com link.

Fret's eye's snapped open, and after a brief moment of panic at not being able to see anything, his senses kicked in and he remembered where he was. Leaving the warmth from having his face pressed into Handmaiden's upper thigh and stomach, he sat up and checked the com. "Yeah, what's up, Atton?"

"_Just wondering if you kids are ever going to come home. We need to know what the plan is for today. You know, who all is going to Iziz with you, when you're leaving and think you're coming back, that sort of stuff. Assuming you're still going."_

"Yeah… why wouldn't we be? What time is it anyway?" Fret glanced outside, but with the overcast sky he didn't have a good feel for the time of day.

"_Uhhh… getting on towards late morning. Having so much fun out there you lost track of time?"_

"Something like that… we'll be back in about 30 minutes. Tell everyone there will be a meeting in the main hold in an hour, and we'll go from there."

"_Will do, boss. Later…"_

Fret looked over at Handmaiden expectantly.

"Yes?" she asked with an innocent smile.

"Daybreak, huh?"

"Something like that…" she replied, mimicking his words to Atton.

Fret chuckled, moving to get dressed. "How long were you going to let me sleep?"

"You were resting so peacefully, I decided that unless we were attacked, you were going to sleep until you woke up on your own. And before you gripe at me about getting a late start going to Iziz… it would not have been a major concern if we missed today as well and had to go tomorrow instead. It was more important for you to rest."

Fret shook his head at her. "I wasn't going to gripe at you, Handmaiden." Smiling warmly, he added, "Whatever you did to knock me out worked wonders, I feel great. That's the best sleep I've had in ages. I'm going to get spoiled if I have that to look forward to for the rest of my life."

Handmaiden grinned back at him. "I only helped you relax. Once you did you went right to sleep. It was my pleasure."

The pair finished getting their gear together and left to return to the _Ebon Hawk_.

-==0==-

As the couple walked through the clearing the _Ebon Hawk _was docked in and approached the loading ramp, Fret suddenly stopped. Handmaiden was several steps ahead of him before she realized he had stopped. Looking back, she noticed his thoughtful expression and asked, "What is it?"

When he didn't immediately respond, she softly called his name. "Fret?"

Snapping out of his stupor, Fret smiled broadly at her. "Hey… I just realized something… remember how yesterday I said I didn't have even a single good memory of this moon?"

Handmaiden nodded, silently prompting him to continue.

"Well, because of you, I can't say that anymore. When I think of the Demon Moon, I finally have something good to associate with being here. Thank you…" he said sincerely.

Handmaiden smiled affectionately in return before her expression shifted to slightly contemplative. Fret was just about to ask her what she was thinking about when she suddenly strode forward. Placing her free hand on his chest, she tugged on the front of his robes to pull him forward as she rose up on tip toes and kissed him lightly on the lips. Breaking the kiss, she rested the side of her face against his so that her mouth was near his ear. Then she whispered a single word, one that she herself hadn't heard in many years.

"Brianna."

She pulled back, giggling at the dumbstruck expression on his face in response to her unexpected bombshell.

"_Brianna…"_ he mouthed silently, his expression turning to a wide smile.

"Fret? I want you to know that you don't have to worry about keeping it a secret. Thanks to you I am no longer the _Last of the Handmaidens_. I am _Brianna_, disciple and mate of the Jedi Exile Fret Starscream, the one who will stand with you against anything we face, for as long as you will have me."

"Thank you, Brianna," he whispered hoarsely, his voice thick with emotion. "I'll do everything I can to honor the trust you have placed in me."

"I know you will. And I will do the same for you."

Sealing the mutual pledging of themselves to each other with another kiss, Fret and Brianna linked hands and climbed the ramp, expecting to get teased mercilessly by their companions once they got inside. But it was a small price to pay for a couple of outcasts that had finally found the acceptance they had long craved.

-==0==-

Fret strolled into the main hold to find everyone else waiting for him. He was running a bit behind, but knew his companions would forgive him the time it took it take a quick shower and change into a fresh set of robes. He knew Brianna wouldn't say anything, since he was late because he let her have the 'fresher first. Making eye contact with her, he raised an eyebrow quizzically at her appearance. She smiled at his confused expression.

"My robes need washed, so I had to wear one of my handmaiden uniforms today," she explained. "I will need to purchase some backup robes for use in the future."

Fret nodded in understanding, and was glad to see she was at least wearing the hood down. "We'll see what we can find in Iziz. Hmmm… I've got plenty of sets of robes. I'll throw a couple sets in my pack to take down there. Worst case we can find a shop to have them altered to fit you."

"Surely you will have more pressing concerns than clothes shopping, Exile?" Kreia remarked cynically from the corner of the room.

"I don't know, Kreia. I seem to recall back on Peragus you specifically suggested I include a search for clothes among the _pressing concerns_ there."

"It would be wise to understand the difference between having no clothes at all and mere fashion, Exile," Kreia countered. Ignoring the barb, Fret asked Atton to give a status report on the ship's repairs and readiness.

Brianna could sense Fret's Force signature flare for the briefest of moments, a revelation in and of itself, and realized it was because of Kreia's use of the moniker he had grown to hate. As Atton began giving a rundown on the status of the various systems, she casually moved over and hooked her arm around Fret's, leaning slightly against him.

Fret grinned, happy that she felt comfortable enough to do that in front of the others. _"Let's see how long it takes someone to make a comment about this," _he thought. _"I can't imagine it will take Atton more than a minute."_

Brianna chuckled. "Mira will beat him to it," she said softly, so only he could hear. "She will say something before he is done rattling off his report."

"Wh-what?" asked Fret, his eyes wide in shock.

Brianna looked at him in complete confusion. "I… I do not understand your reaction."

"Hey!" barked Atton, slightly annoyed. "You're the one that wanted this report, are you even going to listen to it?"

"I think someone else has his attention," Mira replied, smirking as she noticed how Handmaiden was holding Fret's arm.

Fret waved his hand. "Just a minute, guys." Staring intently at Brianna, he asked, "What made you say what you did a moment ago?"

Still looking confused, she answered, "Is it not obvious? You said we'll see how long it takes someone to comment, and then said that you thought it would be Atton. So I replied that I thought Mira would beat him to it."

If it was possible, Fret's eyes grew even wider. At this point he was oblivious to the fact that everyone but Kreia was staring at the two of them and wondering what was going on. "Brianna…" he choked out, "I didn't _say_ anything."

"What do you mean? Of course you did, how would I have replied otherwise?"

Fret shook his head. "No, I _thought_ that, but I didn't say it out loud."

"What are you saying, that I read your mind?"

"Brianna… that's _exactly _what I'm saying."

"So, the bond has formed," Kreia offered cryptically.

"Another bond? How am I doing this?" asked Fret in concern.

Brianna looked pensive. _"I hope he does not take this badly. I did not mean for it to happen._"

Fret looked over at her, trying to smile in reassurance. "Don't worry about that, it's not anything you did. I'm just at a loss to explain it is all. It's a bit disconcerting, but I'm not unhappy abou-" He suddenly stopped in mid-sentence at her expression. "What?" he asked.

"You just did the same thing," she said, "Replying to something I thought but didn't say out loud."

Fret grinned. Deciding to take it one step further, he consciously used the Force to project his thought towards her. _::_ _You're something else, you know? I love you, Brianna._ _::_

Brianna smiled warmly back at him. This was all new to her, but she could sense the difference between the thoughts she picked up on her own versus the one he specifically intended for her. The former felt like reaching out and tugging on a tendril of the Force to bring it to her, the latter like it was planted in her mind. It was just there. She didn't know how he did it, but she tried to concentrate and mimic that feeling of the Force and push it back to him.

_::_ _I love you too, Fret. If this thought actually reaches you, kiss me._ _::_

Fret burst out laughing. _::_ _We're definitely going to draw comments about that!_ _::_

The others, not having been privy to the exchange that took place only between Fret's and Brianna's minds, were left more than a little confused. "Wanna share what's going on with y-" began Atton before suddenly exclaiming, "Whoa!" when Fret leaned down and kissed Handmaiden briefly on the lips.

Bao-Dur chuckled. "If I'm not mistaken, I believe the general has met his match." As Fret's only friend left from his old life, the Iridonian engineer had more perspective on him than anyone else on the crew. If anyone deserved happiness after all he'd gone through, he thought, it was the general.

Visas could not help but feel a twinge of sadness. She was not at all surprised, she had easily seen how in harmony their Force signatures were well before the two of them were consciously aware of feelings for each other. And she was truly happy for the Exile, at seeing his wounded spirit largely healed. But even while knowing this, and that it had been a fool's dream to dare to hope, she still felt disappointment in accepting that path was closed off to her now, that it was the sister of the Echani that filled the void for him that she had longed to fill herself.

"Do the rest of us get to call you 'Brianna' now too?" Mira asked, grinning at her friend. It hadn't slipped past the observant bounty hunter that Fret had called her that twice earlier.

Brianna nodded. "Yes… I am comfortable using my real name again, for the first time in many years. And truthfully, it was not only because of Fret that I got to this point. You have all shown me much more kindness and friendship than I had any reason to expect after I first joined you. Thank you… even you, Atton."

Atton grinned in pleasant surprise. He knew she had grown to at least respect him since he'd turned over a new leaf and become a Jedi sentinel, and he'd grown to respect her as time had passed and he'd recognized her personal agenda had given way to the crew's shared agenda. But despite how far their relationship had come from its very rocky start, he wouldn't say that either of them considered the other to be a friend. "Yeah, well… don't go getting all misty eyed on me or anything. We've still got a mission to finish."

"The fool of a pilot is right for once," Kreia snarked. "Can we return our focus to more important things?"

Fret cleared his throat. "So it sounds like the ship repairs are going about as smoothly as can be expected. There are multiple crash sites that parts can probably be scavenged from if necessary. Atton, your ground team here if you need to send one out for something will be Mira, Visas, and HK, while you, Bao-Dur, and T3 stay focused on the repair work. Brianna, Kreia, and I will go with Mandalore to Iziz. I don't expect we'll be gone more than a couple of days, but we'll get a message back to you if something comes up.

_::_ _Oh? You deem to have me accompany you?_ _::_ Kreia projected to Fret.

_::_ _Yes. Besides the fact I have lots of questions about this bond stuff and Brianna's Force abilities, from what I've gleaned about Onderon's political situation, I feel your wisdom will be most helpful in determining our best course of action. And you know I'm not looking forward to seeing my old master, Kavar, so your guidance in dealing with that matter will be appreciated as well._ _::_

_::_ _Very well._ _::_

Fret knew not to expect anything more in response than that, though he did sense the prior edginess in her side of their bond had calmed considerably. He knew she wasn't at all happy at the revelation of his and Brianna's relationship, especially not immediately on the heels of him agreeing to train her in the Force after Kreia specifically recommended he not do it. But he hoped his comments appeased her somewhat, and that Kreia would in time accept that the relationship wouldn't affect the mission.

* * *

**AN: One of the (many) unsatisfying things about KotOR2 is that Handmaiden doesn't reveal her name until after her confrontation with Atris late in the game. It never made sense to me that even after breaking her oath by becoming a Jedi and showing a personal interest in the Exile, she still gives the same spiel in refusing to tell you her name. Maybe it's just me, but even if you take out the romantic angle, I think this approach of Brianna trusting the Exile enough to reveal her name shortly after becoming a Jedi is more natural than the game story.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Ahhh, I was beginning to wonder if you'd changed your mind," Mandalore remarked as Fret, Brianna, and Kreia entered the headquarters of the Mandalorian camp.

"Nah, just got a late start is all," replied Fret. "We still up for a trip to Iziz?"

Mandalore nodded. "I had the shuttle prepped early this morning. We can leave in a few minutes if you're ready."

"Just about. Hey, we opened the weapons cache you mentioned yesterday. There's a lot of stuff in there. What do we owe you for a couple of lightsabers and parts, six rippers, two disintegrators, and four assault rifles?"

Mandalore looked back at the Exile in amusement. "Consider the Jedi stuff your payment for the job. As far as the Mandalorian weapons, go settle up with the quartermaster. Tell Kex I said to give you a 50% discount for being honorable enough to tell me what you took from the cache."

Smiling, Fret nodded. "Thanks, Mandalore. We'll go take care of that real quick and then we'll be ready to go."

Fret and Brianna turned to leave. After a few steps, Fret noticed that Kreia had made no move to follow. "You coming with us?" he inquired.

"These old bones have no desire to walk across this camp only to turn around and walk back," Kreia responded in a curt tone.

The answer made sense, but the stare she was giving Mandalore suggested there was something more going on than he was in the loop on. "Very well," he replied simply, leaving with Brianna.

-==0==-

"Is all in readiness?" Kreia asked Mandalore pointedly.

Mandalore scoffed. "It is, like I promised. Why, you want to back out now?"

"My concern is only for the one you escort to Onderon. Would you do any less for one of your clan?"

"Don't pretend to understand us, old woman. We Mandalorians are a breed apart."

"Ahh, yes. If by 'apart' you mean broken, scattered, and lost, then you are correct."

Mandalore scoffed again. "You've got guts talking to me like that. You think your age or your Jedi whelp will keep you safe against me?"

Kreia shook her head. "No, Mandalore, you are wrong. It is _you_ that I hope will keep _him_ safe. The Echani servant accompanying him is expendable, but he is more important to me than anything. Show the same loyalty you've shown previous masters, even when they abandoned you."

"Why is he so important?"

Kreia answered cryptically. "If you want the answer to that, and to where Revan went after leaving you at the edge of the galaxy, you _must _keep him safe. He has walked your same path, Mandalore, and I ask that you remember that kinship at the end, even when it seems nothing else remains."

"_Jedi and their damned riddles,"_ thought Mandalore cynically. He stalked past Kreia and out the door, heading over to the hangar to perform a final check of the shuttle's systems before departure.

-==0==-

"Fret? What is wrong?" Brianna asked. They were on their way back from paying the quartermaster for the weapons they'd obtained from the cache, and Fret suddenly stopped in the middle of the field with a stern expression.

"I… sensed a very brief disturbance in the Force. It was like a flicker, but it was there."

Brianna hadn't felt anything, but she also knew her command of the Force was far less than his. "Does that mean something bad?"

"I don't know. Keep alert though." He drew his saberstaff and continued walking while holding it deactivated in his left hand. Brianna followed suit.

Kreia's voice came to him through their bond. _::_ _Did __you sense the disturbance?_ _::_

_::_ _Yes_ _::_ he replied. _::_ _Do you know what it was?_ _::_

_::_ _Our enemy has tracked us here. Our whereabouts must remain a secret, none of them can be allowed to escape._ _::_

"Brianna!" Fret called out sharply as just then he felt the disturbance return in full force. Spinning around, he saw a pair of Sith assassins that had deactivated their stealth generators and materialized into view behind them. "Kreia says the Sith have tracked us here! We have to eliminate all of them all so they can't report back!" he quickly added. While turning to face their enemies, two more Sith appeared behind their position, effectively surrounding them.

_::_ _Back-to-back!_ _::_ Fret commanded Brianna through their Force bond. _::_ _We'll cover each other's backs, keep them all in sight._ _::_

_::_ _Got it!_ _::_ she pushed back to him through their bond, turning so that her back was to Fret's and each of them had a pair of enemies in front of them.

Fret quickly took inventory of them. The Sith were all identical in appearance, roughly six feet tall and cloaked in minimalist black and gray robes. They were wearing black hoods with gray Force masks that removed any sort of individuality in addition to providing resistance against an opponent's Force powers. It was impossible to tell from their appearance or what little sound they made if they were male, female, or something else. Each assassin wielded a black and silver quarterstaff in their black gloved hands. He found it odd that they didn't wield the customary red-bladed lightsabers of the Sith, but there was little time to ponder that at present.

Dozens of Sith assassins began popping up everywhere in the camp. The Mandalorians scrambled into action to meet and repel the threat.

Fret and Brianna moved in harmony, their sum greater than the whole. Their Force bond only enhanced the effects of the _battle precognition_ ability Brianna had taught Fret during their last sparring/training session, they seemed to know exactly what their enemies would do moments before they acted. Fighting in tandem, their own actions constantly complemented each other, whether attacking, defending, or supporting the other. The four Sith assassins went down quickly.

"Let's go help the Mandalorians!" shouted Fret over the din of the battle. The two of them raced across the field, her natural speed making her easily outdistance him. Brianna jumped into the fray, assisting Kelborn, who was holding off a pair of assassins but not able to make much headway on the offensive front.

Fret glanced to the side and saw a Mandalorian a dozen meters away fall after taking a blast of Force lightning from his attacker. Fret collected himself and Force jumped the distance between them, crashing down hard on the unsuspecting Sith, severing an arm in the process before spinning his saberstaff around and separating its torso from its legs. Another assassin stepped up, swinging its staff at Fret. He parried the incoming strike and lashed back with the other blade. The Sith blocked that attack and then attempted to overwhelm Fret's mind with Force Horror. The Exile resisted the mental attack, retaliating with a flurry of sweeps and strikes. The assassin blocked the first three, but the last one slipped through its defenses and scored flesh, the silver saber blade raking angrily across the Sith's right thigh. The wound compromised the assassin's mobility, so rather than continuing to go toe-to-toe with the Jedi Exile, it stepped back and attempted to drain Fret's lifeforce through the Force. The attack partially succeeded, and Fret grunted at feeling himself weakening while his opponent regained strength. The Sith jumped into the air in a twisting staff attack aimed at its opponent's head, but Fret quickly threw out his hand and pushed a Force wave that caught his enemy in mid-air and blew him back several meters. The rough landing hurt and disoriented the Sith, and Fret followed up with a violent storm of lightning that ripped through his opponent and left it critically wounded. Immediately he threw his saberstaff at the assassin, using the Force to impale it and end its life. After recalling his lightsaber, he spun back around, his eyes rapidly scanning for Brianna. She and Kelborn had finished off the two Sith assassins and she had already moved further ahead to engage more of them. She was so focused on the pair in front of her that she didn't recognize that she was about to be hit from behind.

Fret realized he had no chance to warn her with words, so he focused his sight through their bond, forcing the image of what he was seeing through his own eyes into her mind while he sprinted towards her. Just when he thought it didn't work, at the last moment without looking she lifted her saber over her shoulder and behind her back to intercept the incoming strike of her opponent's quarterstaff, then pivoted and executed a back kick that caught the surprised assassin in the stomach. The impact of the kick doubled him over, and from there it took only a simple compact sweep of her saberstaff to remove the head from the body and eliminate the threat. Brianna quickly spun back around to deflect another incoming attack with a saber blade, then gathered her Force energy and threw it out as hard as she could in front of her at the other attacker. The Force push blew back the assassin, knocking it down and away from her long enough for her to focus her attention on the lone remaining Sith in front of her.

Another assassin moved to intercept Fret, who was still closing the gap between himself and Brianna. Making a quick decision, Fret raised a Force shield around Brianna to enhance her defense even further, then used his master level ability to augment his speed through the Force. The assassin nailed Fret while he was in the middle of boosting his speed, the tempered metal reinforced staff connecting violently with and shattering his left elbow. This caused Fret to immediately drop his saberstaff from the left hand he now had no control over. Screaming out in pain involuntarily, Fret still maintained the presence of mind to draw one of his Mandalorian rippers from a pocket holster with his good arm. He rapid fired a series of blasts that tore through the energy shield the Sith wore, bypassing its defenses and scorching its flesh. The Sith was indecisive after the revelation of a Jedi producing a disruptor pistol, and Fret took advantage of this indecisiveness to continue to pump slugs into the Sith's body. It was dead by the time it figured out how to react.

-==0==-

Brianna turned suddenly in alarm, sensing Fret's intense pain through their bond. He'd learned enough from Kreia earlier in their adventures that he unconsciously shielded Brianna from the actual pain, but she knew that he'd been hurt. With renewed determination she aggressively attacked the Sith in front of her, pouring the years of hard training that had honed her edge into the attack. The Sith was highly skilled, but even the darksider was taken aback by the ferocity with which she fought. She drove the assassin back in a furious onslaught, overwhelming its defenses and ending its life. She then turned to face the one she'd Force pushed earlier, it had gotten back up and was beginning to charge. Before she could engage it, however, a massive burst of blaster fire came from the side and shredded the Sith, dropping its lifeless body to the ground. Brianna stole a glance in the direction the blaster fire came from, her eyes briefly widening in surprise as she immediately recognized the armor worn by the wielder of the heavy weapon. It was the battle circle sergeant. He nodded once to her before turning his attention elsewhere on the battle field. Brianna then reached out with the Force to locate Fret. She could still sense he was in pain, and she wanted to get to him right away.

-==0==-

Fret had no time to recover after dispatching the previous enemy, as another Sith assassin bore down on him rapidly. Reholstering his ripper, Fret called his fallen saberstaff to his good hand, reactivating it in time to intercept the incoming attack. Twirling the double-bladed saber one-handed, Fret moved in a blur, still under the effects of his Force speed augment. The Sith didn't know what to make of this particular fighting style, never having seen anything like it. Fret used that confusion to his advantage, using a lot of motion to keep his opponent off-balance and on the defensive. The assassin was so focused on what Fret was doing that it never saw the viridian lightsaber blade coming until it looked down and saw it sticking out of its stomach from behind. Ripping the blade out of the lifeless Sith and letting its body crumple to the ground, Brianna looked at Fret in concern. "What happened?"

Fret's eyes roamed the battle field to make sure there was no immediate threat. Satisfied there was none, he grimaced and deactivated his saber. "My arm… it's broken," he replied, gesturing to his left arm.

"Why did you not use the Force to heal it?" she asked incredulously.

Fret shook his head. "Force heal does a lot of things, but it doesn't set broken bones. I need you to set my elbow first, and then I can use the Force to mend the break and repair the damage around it."

Brianna rolled up the sleeve of his robe, frowning at the purplish-black swollen mass that currently passed for his elbow. "Hold your sleeve up for me," she requested.

She felt him tense up even though she handled his arm as gently as she could while examining it. She needed to get him distracted from what she was doing. "Tell me how you planted those pictures in my head back there, where all of a sudden it was like I was seeing myself through your eyes."

"Oh, that was my ability to dominate minds with the Force, where I can imprint images or commands on someone's mind to see or do what I want them to. You've seen me use it a few times against hostile people."

"Didn't you once say it only works on people with relatively weak minds or that are untrained in resisting it? Does that make me weak-minded?"

Fret chuckled painfully. "Hardly… Normally that's true, but it worked on you because of the level of trust between us. Even though dominating a mind is more typically used to make someone do or see something against their will and the natural reaction is to at least attempt to resist it, your mind accepted it because unconsciously it didn't even occur to you to resist me. It speaks volumes about how much you tru- ARRRGGGHHH!"

Brianna smiled sweetly at Fret, who glowered at her for torqueing his elbow back into place while he was in the middle of his explanation. "Your elbow is set," she said, continuing to smile.

"That was mean…" he said, mock pouting before gathering his Force energies to heal himself. After glowing for several seconds, his elbow looked back to normal. He tested the range of motion, and satisfied with it let his sleeve drop.

Brianna shook her head, maintaining her smile. "No, I did you a favor. I took away the anticipation of the pain that had you all tensed up before. I admit I _was _curious about the dominate mind thing, but I only asked the question just now to distract you from what I needed to do."

"It was still mean…" he replied, fighting to stifle the giggles.

"Oh?" she asked, poking him in the chest. "How about next time I get HK-47 to set your broken bones for you instead?"

Fret cringed. "Okay, okay... you win. HK would probably just move straight to amputation."

Brianna laughed lightly. "Ready to get back to fighting?"

"Let's…"

-==0==-

A short time later, Fret and Brianna deactivated their lightsabers, still standing back-to-back while surrounded by the remnants of eight dead Sith. Their eyes scanned their surroundings, neither of them finding a living enemy in sight. Fret sighed, glad it was over. Turning around, he was surprised at the gleam in her eyes. She was practically vibrating in excitement, her expression and mannerisms akin to a kid hopped up on too much sugar. "What's with you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

Brianna beamed back enthusiastically. "That was the single most exhilarating experience of my life! The way we fought together through the Force, fed off of each other, the synergy between our battle precognition abilities, it was all so incredible!" She gestured around them at the piles of robes, all that was left of the Sith, whose bodies dissolved away not long after their life force was cutoff. "The two of us took down all of these Sith... I have never had a battle that felt so… perfect, like everything we did was exactly the right thing, flawless in execution. This must have been how my mother felt fighting alongside my father."

Fret smiled. He didn't have the same love of battle that she had, but he knew his mate was Echani through and through in that regard. And he didn't disagree with her assessment. He could already tell that their naturally complementary abilities combined with the Force bond that seemed to be continually strengthening would make them formidable opponents for anyone. But he did want to reign in her enthusiasm a bit. "It was definitely an amazing experience, but let's be careful not to let our confidence spill over into arrogance. That's a sure way to get us both killed."

Brianna nodded. "Of course, forgive my exuberance. I have just never experienced something like that before."

"Seems trouble follows you on a regular basis!" declared a gruff voice. Fret and Brianna glanced over to see Mandalore approaching them. "I think it's best if we depart for Iziz now. Grab your gear, my men will take care of cleaning up the mess here."

-==0==-

Walking back toward the shuttle, a thought occurred to Fret. _"I wonder if Brianna really loves me, or if she just loves the idea of me and her because she sees us as her father and mother, and this is her way of getting back what she lost." _He sighed to himself at the thought.

_::_ _How can you even ask such a question? ::_ she projected angrily through their bond.

_::_ _Wh-what?_ _::_

_::_ _You think I'm using you as a substitute for my father, and putting myself in my mother's role? ::_ Brianna suddenly felt Fret's side of the bond diminish greatly, and when she glanced over at him she saw a scowl that exceeded her own anger at him at that moment.

_::_ _That thought was not meant for you. I'm sorry, I'd gotten lazy about shielding my thoughts. That's been taken care of. ::_

_:: But you're not sorry for having the thought in the first place. ::_

_:: No, I'm not. For your information, just because I wondered that to myself doesn't mean I automatically think it's true. ::_

_:: So do you? ::_

_:: Do I what? ::_

_:: Think I am trying to recreate my parents through us, that I do not really love you beyond my father that I see in you? ::_

_:: I don't know what to think, I didn't exactly get a chance to sort through it before you pulled it from my head and jumped me about it. All I know is that last night you described your desire to be with me in terms of wanting it to be like your mother fighting alongside your father, and then just a few minutes ago you put your excitement about the battle in terms of how it must have felt for your mother and father. You tell me… what am I supposed to think? ::_

His last question was met by silence from her side of the bond. As upset as he was with her at the moment for pulling that private thought from his head and then grilling him on it, Fret couldn't help but feel a bit nervous by her lack of response. He certainly didn't want to run her off, for her to change her mind about their relationship. He _did_ love her, and upset or not he really hoped that his worry was misplaced. Lost in thought, Fret didn't notice the Mandalorian sergeant approach the trio until he began to speak to them.

"Echani Jedi, may I have a moment?" the sergeant asked.

Brianna was still stewing about Fret, but tried to at least put on a cordial expression. "Yes?"

"I… I wish to apologize to you… for my behavior yesterday."

"What is this about?" she asked, confused.

"I insulted your heritage and your worth as a warrior. Seeing you on the field of battle against the Sith, I saw how wrong I was about you. You fought with a tenacity and skill worthy of any Mandalorian, it was an honor to call you an ally."

Handmaiden smiled, nodding. "Thank you for saying so when you did not have to. Perhaps there is more honor in the Mandalorians than I gave you credit for as well."

-==0==-

Mandalore, Fret, and Brianna arrived at the hangar to find Kreia waiting with a maintenance tech. "Is the shuttle ready?" asked Mandalore gruffly.

"Momentarily…" replied the tech, explaining, "A couple of the Sith tried to sabotage it, but they were caught and dealt with before they got far. We're just re-running the diagnostics to make sure she's clean. Should be ready in about ten minutes, sir."

"Good." Turning to his traveling party, Mandalore asked, "You got everything you need?"

Fret nodded. "While he's finishing up, I'm going outside for some fresh air. I'll be back in the ten minutes your tech said it'll take." _:: Come with me, please. :: _he said to Brianna through their bond in a flat tone. Both of them knew the 'please' part was only a formality, he wasn't asking. The pair walked out of and around the side of the hangar in silence, where Fret motioned for them to sit down on a couple of metal boxes that were against the outside wall.

"I can't function like this, Brianna," Fret began.

Her eyes grew wide, she immediately suspected the worst. "Wh-what do you mean?"

He sighed. "I know I'm going to think or say things at times that upset you. Heck, I've made you mad at me both days here. But I can't have you overreacting and creating an even tenser situation for us and any companions with us."

"So I should just pretend to be happy?" she asked sarcastically.

"Not at all. But you _should_ consider giving me a little more benefit of the doubt, unless you think I'm typically a mean person that wants to make you feel bad."

"Of course I don't think that…"

"Then could you maybe try to understand my point of view, where I'm coming from, _before_ getting angry with me?"

Even though his voice was calm and composed, Brianna could see the hurt in his eyes. She wanted to stay angry at him, but she found herself unable to do so. "I… will try," she answered quietly.

Fret waited a minute for her to say anything else, but when she didn't he continued. "We've only got a few minutes before we have to go back. But we need to finish our earlier discussion. The fact that you caught a thought I didn't intend to be heard is irrelevant at this point. What _is_ relevant is whether or not the sentiment expressed in the thought is true. And it's not something I can answer."

A few moments of silence went by, and Fret noticed that Brianna had begun to cry. His first instinct was to pull her into an embrace and comfort her, but he resisted because he didn't know the context of the tears. He hoped it wasn't that she was about to tell him that what he'd thought was true.

"Fret…" she began, her voice wavering, "you do not understand how much it hurts when you doubt me like that, even if you say you were only wondering it and did not necessarily believe it was true. You mean everything to me, and it wounds me that you cannot see that. Maybe part of me _does_ see parallels between our relationship and my parents. But to suggest that is all I see in you? That would mean you see my side of the relationship as either manipulative or clueless, and I do not know which is worse. Maybe this was a mistake…"

Fret sighed. "From last night up until earlier was as happy as I can ever remember being in my life. I've never been more content or at peace with myself. If you're saying our relationship was a mistake, well… it's the best mistake I ever made."

She tried to laugh softly, but still crying it came out more like hiccups. That caused him to chuckle lightly.

"I love you, Brianna, I really mean that."

"Then why do you doubt me?" she asked quietly.

Fret closed his eyes, trying to think of a way to explain himself without appearing weak. After a minute of silence thinking it over, he decided he didn't care if he was weak in front of her. "I want you to understand that... it isn't _you_ that I have ever doubted. It's me…"

Brianna looked up at him, slightly confused. "What do you mean?"

Fret sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I… I guess… after all these years, after all I've done, after being told so many times how horrible a person I am… I guess I have a hard time convincing myself I'm capable of being loved, especially by an amazing woman like you." He stood up, facing away from her as he looked at the sky. "I guess… I try to find ulterior motives or reasons... that it's only because you look up to me... or you're afraid of hurting my feelings... or I'm somehow manipulating you into it... or you're living your parents' relationship vicariously through us... or whatever else, because… deep down… I can't come to grips with the idea that… that... someone like you could possibly legitimately love _me_." Fret stuffed his hands in his pockets, continuing to stare off beyond the horizon with a morose expression.

After a couple of moments, he felt Brianna's arms slip through his and wrap themselves tightly around his chest as she pressed her tear-streaked face to his back. "You _never_ have to doubt yourself with me," she whispered hoarsely. "_Never"_ she reiterated for emphasis.

Fret slowly turned around in her grasp until he was embracing her as well. He gently ran his fingers through her silverish white hair while she lay her head on his chest. "Forgive me, Bri, for being such an idiot?" he asked quietly.

Laughing softly in relief and at the cute shortened form of her name he used, she answered, "Of course I do..." before adding, "As long as you understand that you are _my _idiot, that I love you for _you_, with no strings attached."

Fret laughed lightly in response. "Thanks, I think I understand that now."

_:: Will you be done soon, or do we need to continue to wait on you? :: _Kreia asked Fret impatiently and pointedly through their bond.

_:: We'll be there in a couple of minutes, we're almost done with what we needed to talk about. ::_

_:: Mind your feelings, Exile. I sense this relationship is already trying your emotions. Do not allow her to become a weakness. ::_

Brianna heard Fret groan slightly and looked up at him. "What is it?" she asked.

"_Mother_ is in my head, telling us we're late and lecturing me on my emotional state."

"That woman really needs to get a life."

Fret laughed along with Brianna, the couple feeling their joint anxiety wash off of them. After wiping her face clean with the front of his robes, Fret bent down and gave her a gentle kiss. Pulling back, they smiled at each other in contentment.

"Come on," said Fret, "Let's go to Onderon…" Grasping hands, they started back towards the hangar, ready to begin the next step of their mission.

* * *

**AN: The end :-) The angsty stuff in sorting through Fret and Brianna's personal issues was a bit of a compromise. In the game Brianna makes enough comments about her parents' relationship and comparing the Exile to her father that I wanted to at least explore the question of whether or not she was subconsciously projecting the idealized memories of her parents' relationship on to her own feelings for the Exile. Anyway, it's a compromise in that it feels maybe a little rushed to jump into so soon in the new relationship. If I was intending to carry the story forward to Onderon, Korriban, etc. I'd have held that subplot back until a bit later, and also not have introduced and then resolved it so quickly. But I think it works well enough in this context that I think the story is better off having it than if I'd left it out. Originally when I wrote this story I intended to end it right after the scene in chapter 9 where Brianna reveals her name, but after seeing how the rest of 9 and chapter 10 turned out, I'm glad I went ahead and extended it.**

**Thanks to everyone who read the story, special thanks to those that reviewed, PM'd, added it to favorites, etc. And thanks to the other authors that have written or are in the process of writing stories that indirectly inspired me to take the time to write mine. And of course LucasArts, Obsidian, and BioWare for the source material to work with :-)**


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